By the end of Christmas Eve, all care home residents and staff in Dumfries and Galloway will have received the first of two covid jabs.
And they are set to get their second one by January 16, which will mean they are protected by January 23 as immunity takes seven days to fully kick in.
Furthermore, 1200 vaccinations have so far been delivered to medical staff in Dumfries and Galloway working in areas where they may encounter patients with Covid.
Health bosses say they expect the vaccine programme to ‘accelerate significantly’ upon the approval of the Astra Zeneca/Oxford vaccine, anticipated to get the go ahead between Christmas and the New Year.
If that happens, vaccination of people aged over 80 is scheduled to start locally on January 18 2021.
Dumfries and Galloway Health and Social Care Partnership chief officer Julie White this week welcomed the progress and said: “Care homes are particularly vulnerable to the effects of Covid-19, so the protection this vaccine offers will be a huge comfort and relief to residents and their families, and also to the staff working so hard to help them and keep them safe.
“Covid vaccinations only began in the region on December 8, so delivering the first of two doses to care home residents and staff ahead of Christmas against some of the storage and transport limitations posed by the initial Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is testament to the efforts of the incredibly hard-working vaccination team.”
However, she warned there is still a long way to go until there is widespread immunity across Dumfries and Galloway and reminded the public to continue to follow the official FACTS guidance.
Ms White also reminded people not to make approaches to their GP or NHS to enquire about vaccinations and stressed those eligible will be contacted directly.
