NICOLA Sturgeon reminded Douglas Ross of the success of Scotland’s vaccine roll-out as he took aim at the scheme during FMQs.

Scotland’s First Minister rattled through statistics proving the country’s roll-out is “the most successful anywhere in the UK” after the Scottish Tory leader called for booster jags to be accelerated.

It emerged this week that some people aged over 40 in Scotland had been turned away from getting their Covid vaccine booster despite becoming eligible under new guidance on Monday.

The Scottish Government said new guidance, which cuts the length of time between second and third doses down from six to three months, would be processed urgently.

Later, a spokesperson said all health boards had been fully updated and apologised to those turned away from appointments. During First Minister’s Questions, Sturgeon also reassured viewers that only a “small number” had been affected by the “glitch”. However, other MSPs said problems were ongoing.

Ross’s line of questioning focused on this news before suggesting too little is being done to roll out the booster jags – and saying too little ground work has been done by health boards to prepare for the expansion of the booster roll-out.

“The SNP Scottish government needs to show the same urgency to rolling out the booster vaccines as was the case in delivering the first and second doses,” the MP and MSP said.

“There is a backlog of close to two million people across Scotland waiting for their jag,” he insisted, before prompting heckling and laughing from the SNP benches. There are 2.2 million people waiting for a booster jag in Scotland, largely because the eligibility criteria was expanded to include all over-18s just days ago. More than 1.7m doses have already been delivered.

READ MORE: Penny Mordaunt tells Scots 'get on board' with Brexit despite hit to economy

The Scottish Government has said everyone should get their booster by the end of January.

The presiding officer cut in to stop heckling over Ross, before the Scottish Tory leader said the sight of MSPs laughing was “very, very telling” and insisting that “backlog” of 2m exists.

“On these benches we have been calling for the reopening of mass-vaccination centres,” he went on. “It’s surely about time for the First Minister and her government to back our calls so we can roll out the booster vaccines as quickly as possible and guarantee that no-one else gets turned away from having these vital jags.”

Sturgeon said she’d already set out why people had been turned away and reminded Ross that this was not an issue specific to Scotland. However, she told Ross that large-scale vaccination centres exist across Scotland already.

“Douglas Ross seems to think we’re getting this somehow terribly wrong and uniquely wrong. Let me just share with people. We are all trying to work through the numbers of people who are eligible for vaccination as quickly as possible and as soon as possible after the JCVI give us advice.

“Let me just set out for the public here … on first doses, of the over-12 population, 90.9% in Scotland vaccinated, in England 88.5%.

“Second doses, in Scotland 82.6% vaccinated, in England 80.4%. On boosters in Scotland, 36% of the over-12 population vaccination, in England 32.2%.

“So are we going as fast as we need to go? We’ve got to pick up that pace further. But actually, is the approach we're taking in Scotland right now the most successful anywhere in the UK? Yes!

“And isn’t it about time Douglas Ross – if he won’t give the Government, and I’m not asking him to, give the Government any credit – not just in rhetoric but in reality, gave these vaccinators working so hard across the country the credit they deserve?”

Earlier in the exchange, the First Minister explained more about the booster "glitch".

“When advice changes, and the JCVI advice changed on Monday, then because this is a clinical procedure there is a process of updating protocols and materials to make sure that everything is being done in line with clinical protocol," she told MSPs.

“In the normal course of events that is a process that would take around a week. That has happened now already and we have taken steps to ensure that that information has been cascaded down to vaccination clinics everywhere across Scotland.

“And it is important that people who had that experience yesterday, and let me stress it was a small number of people, can go on to the website and rebook their appointment now if they are within what is now three months or over rather that three month period.”