Army deployed to help vaccination programme in Lanarkshire and Lothian

The army has been deployed to help with the vaccination programme in Lanarkshire and Lothian.

A total of 63 members will help as part of Operation Rescript for up to five weeks from today. 

Forty-two service personnel will provide support to NHS Lothian, a number which is made up of 36 vaccinators, four registered health professionals and two command and control managers. 

They will be split into four vaccine support teams, who can be used across Lothian as required. 

Meanwhile, 21 service personnel will also work alongside NHS Lanarkshire, consisting of 18 vaccinators, two registered health professionals and one command and control manager. 

They will form two vaccine support teams and will deploy across Lanarkshire as required.

UK defence secretary Ben Wallace said: "The Armed Forces continue to show their incredible versatility and flexibility, deploying wherever and whenever they are needed in support of this national vaccination effort.

"I am delighted to see that across all corners of the UK, military personnel are working side by side with their NHS counterparts to help get the British public vaccinated as quickly as possible."

More than 3.3 million people in Scotland have so far received a first dose of the COVID vaccine, with just under 2.2 million fully vaccinated.

The vaccination programme is being accelerated in response to the Delta variant, which is spreading quickly in the UK.

At a coronavirus briefing on Friday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the nation was "at a very critical juncture", with Scotland seeing its highest number of positive tests (992) since 17 February.

The R-number is now estimated to be above one and some experts believe the country is at the start of a third wave.