A SCIENTIST has created a vaccine calculator that allows people in Scotland to "see where they fall in the queue" to receive the jag.
After creating a successful UK-wide vaccine calculator, Dr Steven Wooding has now put together a tool which gets more specific, allowing Scots to see when they will receive the vaccine.
"My main motivation to develop this was in December when the news of the vaccine came out and there was great fanfare," Dr Wooding told The National. "People thought it was the end of Covid but it takes time to roll out. The tool allows people to set their expectations."
He added: "There is a gap for this kind of technology as people don’t know where they fall in the queue. We boil it down to a few questions and simplify the process."
READ MORE: Are the SNP 'too slow' on Covid vaccine rollout compared to England?
The Omni Calculator asks a series of questions, such as your age, if you are a frontline worker, if you live or work in a care home and if you are shielding.
It adds if you are pregnant (or plan to be in the next three months) it is not recommended to currently have the vaccine, but states this advice could change when further trial data is available.
Dr Wooding said the results are worked out based on the Scottish Government's nine-point priority list and the likely rate of vaccination.
The list includes
- Residents in a care home for older adults and their carers;
- All those 80 years of age and over and frontline health and social care workers;
- All those 75 years of age and over;
- All those 70 years of age and over and clinically extremely vulnerable individuals;
- All those 65 years of age and over;
- All individuals aged 16 years to 64 years with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality. Unpaid carers who receive carer's allowance or are the main carer of an elderly or disabled person;
- All those 60 years of age and over;
- All those 55 years of age and over; and
- All those 50 years of age and over.
Dr Wooding said the figures for vaccine uptake in Scotland were based on the defaut uptake of the flu vaccine in over 65s, which is more than 400,000 people - the highest in the UK.
"Hopefully the uptake rate will be higher than the flu but we don’t have data on that yet. We can update the default value when we have it," Dr Wooding added.
The tool also answers frequently asked questions such as whether people still need to wear masks after having the vaccine and what the side effects are.
Latest figures show that across Scotland 284,582 people have received their first dose of the Covid vaccination and 3886 have received their second dose.
The jabs will eventually be offered to 4.5 million people in Scotland. Nearly all care home residents and most care home staff have already received their first dose, and vaccinators are currently working through the over-80s.
Everyone aged over 70 and those considered clinically extremely vulnerable are due to receive their first doses by mid-February.
The first phase priority groups have been placed across 10 categories that started with care home residents and staff being vaccinated back in December.
In simple mode, the tool assumes 10,000 people will be vaccinated a week, however this can be changed to two million in advanced mode.
Dr Wooding explained: "The user can change the vaccination or uptake rates too to see how it would effect their place in the queue.
"We have to work it out in terms of what the Scottish Government hopes to do and what they have done in the past seven days. Each day we are looking at how many people have been vaccinated and taking them off the queue.
"The UK changed it to 12 weeks between vaccine doses but we calculate the overall figure. If there are three million people in the queue they have to be done twice so we double the figure and divide it by the overall vaccination rate to get the timescale."
The calculator has not been endorsed by the NHS or Public Health Scotland and is not connected to the mass roll-out, however could offer insight into expectations of the coming year as a resident in Scotland.
Dr Wooding continued: "It launched yesterday and got 50,000 views. We have not got feedback yet but people can rate it and leave comments.
"The UK one had very positive feedback. We had more than 10.5k unique views on it and ratings were very good – people were generally happy with it."
Dr Wooding is currently working on a vaccine calculator for Wales and the tool has also been rolled out in countries including Ireland, France, India, Canada and Poland.
He said it was relatively easy to make the technology for Scotland and the UK, adding: "There weren’t many challenges in setting up the UK version as the Government kept the prioritisation list the same but my colleague in Poland says it’s difficult there because they keep changing the priority list."
Cases of Covid in Scotland are steadily rising, with the latest figures showing that 92 Scots have died in the past 24 hours.
READ MORE: Scotland records 92 Covid-19 deaths over 24 hours, Nicola Sturgeon confirms
Nicola Sturgeon revealed that 1656 positive cases were reported yesterday, which is 7.5% of all tests carried out. The total number of cases since the pandemic started is now 166,583.
The First Minister also said 2003 people are in hospital with Covid, an increase of 14 from yesterday, and six more people have been put in intensive care, bringing that totoal to 156.
It has also been found that BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine is expected to be effective against the rapidly spreading variant of coronavirus in the UK.
Sturgeon warned the new variant was “fast becoming the dominant one in Scotland” in December.
Scientists found that antibodies in 16 patients who had been vaccinated were able to fight off a test-tube version of the virus – including all of its mutations.
The patients were selected from the previous German vaccine trial and included eight younger people, between 18 and 55-years-old, and eight older adults, between 56 and 85-years-old.
The report, which has not been peer reviewed yet, found there was “no biologically significant difference in neutralisation activity” between samples of the original strain detected in Wuhan and the UK-variant.
Scotland's chief medical officer, warned earlier this week that “misinformation” over Covid vaccines is one “of the biggest dangers” Scotland faces.
Gregor Smith was speaking after reports that care homes were targeted by anti-vaccination groups.
READ MORE: Anti-vaccine misinformation among 'biggest dangers' Scotland faces
Umbrella body Scottish Care said there was "concerted campaign to convince care home managers and staff not to receive the Covid-19 vaccination".
Some of the correspondence claimed the vaccine is "entirely experimental" with "many unanswered questions" regarding safety.
Speaking at the Scottish Government’s coronavirus briefing, Smith urged Scots to be wary of where they get their information about the jab.
He said: “I think one of the biggest dangers that we face actually is misinformation in relation to vaccination. And when I hear about particularly targeted misinformation to any particular groups, it makes me really concerned because it preys on people's anxiety and fear.
“My plea to everyone is to read trusted sources of information in relation to the vaccination.”
The top medic, along with the chief nursing officer, and the chief pharmaceutical officer are to write to care workers urging them to get the Covid vaccine.
It comes as Sturgeon hit out at Ruth Davidson over claims Scotland is lagging behind the rest of the UK on the vaccine roll out.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon rejects Tory claims Scotland is lagging behind in jag roll-out
Speaking at FMQs, the SNP leader said the numbers of vaccines administered on Monday was up 56% on the previous Monday. She said the same figure in England was just 40%.
Last week, the Department of Health was furious after the Scottish Government published a vaccine delivery plan, with a week-by-week breakdown of stocks.
On January 11, Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said all over 80s would be vaccinated by the end of the month. However, on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland, John Swinney said the jags would be done by the first week of February.
The First Minister said the target was “refined” because of “our developing understanding of supply".
The UK Government department said it could lead to manufacturers being pressured by other countries.
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