Scottish Ambulance Service call handlers have started to receive the coronavirus vaccine after a government U-turn allowed them to be prioritised, a union has said.
The Scottish Government initially refused to include control-room workers in the priority category, arguing they were not patient-facing, according to the Unite trade union.
However, after concerns were raised about the impact of potential outbreaks on the emergency services response, the Government agreed to allow the Scottish Ambulance Service to decide whether call handlers should be prioritised.
As a result, the first call centre staff received a dose of Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday morning, with all of the approximately 500 workers due to be vaccinated by the end of the week.
Unite Scottish Secretary Pat Rafferty said: Unite is delighted that following our pressure the Scottish Government agreed to defer the decision for vaccinating control-room workers to the Scottish Ambulance Service, who agreed with us that all their workforce should be prioritised.
It was a bizarre position for the Scottish Government to initially not prioritise the workers because they are not patient-facing.
Without them, we dont have an effective service, so its a relief for the workers and we welcome that by the end of this week all control-room staff will now receive the vaccination.read more
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