Number of Covid deaths in Scotland rises while uptake of booster vaccination falls

Hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in Scotland have not received the latest Covid booster jab as part of the spring vaccination campaign, according to a BBC Scotland analysis of official health figures.

This comes as the latest figures show that the number of deaths from Covid continues to rise.

Public Health Scotland figures show 49 deaths in the week starting July 1, almost three-quarters of them in the over-75 age group.

Vaccination data shows that by the program’s end date on June 30, nearly 260,000 at-risk people – including the elderly, people in care homes and people with weakened immune systems – had not received the final booster shot.

The Scottish Government said some health authorities are still vaccinating people who were unable to register for the spring campaign.

The spring booster programme, which followed guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), prioritised vaccinating adults in care homes, people aged 75 and over and people with weakened immune systems.

Among people with weakened immune systems, uptake of the booster vaccination was lowest in the spring: more than half (54.5%) – that is, more than 105,000 people – did not receive a booster vaccination.

Of those over 75, more than a quarter (27.3%) – or 147,000 people – were not vaccinated.

More than 6,000 nursing home residents had not received the booster vaccination. That corresponds to 18.7% of those eligible.

The figures cover the period up to July 7, 2024.

According to the figures, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde had the highest proportion of eligible people who did not receive a booster vaccine in the spring.

In total, 41% of those eligible in the health authorities’ area had not received the booster vaccination, that is almost 54,000 people.

The next highest rates were recorded in NHS Lanarkshire with 40.2% not participating in the booster vaccination and NHS Western Isles with 39.8%.

Additional figures from Public Health Scotland show that there were 459 acute hospital admissions due to Covid in the week to 7 July, a slight decrease on the previous week’s figure when 462 were reported.

Prof Antonia Ho, chief clinical adviser in infectious diseases at the University of Glasgow, said the latest wave of Covid was likely due to new variants and waning immunity from vaccination and infection.

She said: “I find it disappointing that the number of people taking advantage of the spring top-up has gone down and I think that’s true across the country.”

In England, uptake of the spring booster vaccination has been similarly low. Data released by the UK’s Health Security Agency shows that by July 3, 37.7% of eligible people had not received the spring vaccination.

“We don’t have a good idea of ​​how many infections there are because there is so little testing going on at the moment. We are only seeing the tip of the iceberg,” added Prof. Ho.

“Covid has not been confined to a winter season like other respiratory viruses like flu or RSV, so we see waves outside of winter and the waves cause severe disease in some individuals because some people are hospitalized.

“We know that vaccines are our best armour in the fight against severe disease and hospitalisation, but immunity from vaccines does not last very long and that is why we need to continue to give booster shots.”

Death registration data published by the National Records of Scotland also shows that the number of Covid-related deaths has increased.

In the week beginning 1 July, 49 Covid-related deaths were recorded in Scotland, an increase of 53.1% on the previous week when 32 deaths were recorded.

Of the registered deaths, 35 (71.4%) were 75 years or older.

A total of 555 deaths have been recorded in Scotland this year. In these deaths, Covid was either an underlying or a contributing cause of death.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “People at extremely high risk from Covid-19, such as stem cell transplant patients and severely immunocompromised people, will be able to get vaccinated through local clinical referral schemes throughout the year.”

“Although the program ended on June 30, some health authorities are still vaccinating those who were unable to get vaccinated during the program until July 14,” the spokesman said.

“We encourage anyone eligible who is not yet vaccinated to check with their local health department.”