Care Home Covid-19 Vaccination Programme Begins In Scotland

A 90-year-old woman in South Lanarkshire has become the first care home resident to receive the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.

Former carer Annie Innes was vaccinated at Abercorn House in Hamilton.

Care home residents across Scotland have been prioritised to receive the vaccine, along with frontline health care staff.

Mrs Innes said: “It’s wonderful to get the vaccine before Christmas. I hope it keeps me, my friends here and the staff safe and means we can get back to normal very soon. The nurses and the care home staff have been great with us and we are relieved to have been offered the vaccine.”

The second care home resident to receive the vaccine was former hospitality worker Margaret Keating, 82, who has been a resident at Abercorn House for just over a year.

The group that represents care home providers said the vaccination programme “tremendously important”.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman thanked those involved.

“It has been a challenge to get the Pfizer vaccine into care homes because of transport and storage requirements but I am delighted to see Mrs Innes become the first care home resident to receive her vaccine and I wish her many more years of good health,” she said.

“Throughout the pandemic our priority has been to save lives and keep people safe. Vaccines give us a vital additional layer of protection we haven’t had until now.”

Nurse director Trudi Marshall, who is managing care home vaccination across the whole of Lanarkshire, said they would be able to vaccinate 2,990 care home residents and 5,601 staff across 93 Lanarkshire care homes in the “quick moving and complex operation”.

“It’s important to recognise just how much work our staff have put in to the process in such a short time,” she said. “Care home staff and managers also deserve praise for their fantastic co-operation and help.”