Nicola Sturgeon reveals Scotland received its first Moderna vaccines YESTERDAY

Nicola Sturgeon reveals Scotland received its first Moderna vaccines YESTERDAY as the First Minister confirms all Scots schoolchildren will return to class after the Easter holiday

Scotland has already received its first doses of the Moderna vaccine, Nicola Sturgeon revealed today.

The First Minister told a press conference the first consignment arrived safely yesterday, giving the country three different jabs to administer.

But she said its arrival would not speed up the rollout as the doses had already been factored in to projections. 

Her admission came as the vaccines minister confirmed that the first of the 17million doses ordered by the Government for the UK would be rolled out within the next fortnight

Nadhim Zahawi said the first batch of the jab —  which which uses mRNA technology such as Pfizer’s and was approved by regulators in January — was set to arrive in the third week of April, with ‘more volume’ expected in May. 

But her admission today suggests the jabs are already here but may not be rolled out for a fortnight.

In a televised address today, Ms Sturgeon said: ‘I can confirm that the first batch of the Moderna vaccine arrived in Scotland safely yesterday.  

The First Minister told a press conference the first consignment arrived safely yesterday, giving the country three different jabs to administer.

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi pictured receiving his Covid jab. He said today they are expecting the first doses of the long-awaited Moderna jab to arrive this month

Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi pictured receiving his Covid jab. He said today they are expecting the first doses of the long-awaited Moderna jab to arrive this month

‘A total of 17million doses of this vaccine have been ordered for the UK and of that total Scotland will receive well over a million doses.

‘It’s important to stress though that Moderna vaccines will arrive over a period of months, not all at once.

‘The doses we expect to receive are already factored into our forward projections. So the arrival of this first batch doesn’t mean that we are able to accelerate the vaccination programme. The speed of vaccination is already taking account of the expected Moderna supplies.

‘Nevertheless the fact that we now have three vaccines in use is clearly very welcome and it does give us additional security of supply, which is important.’

The numbers of Covid-19 patients in hospital in Scotland has fallen to 196, the First Minister revealed.

She told a Scottish Government coronavirus briefing this figure is 19 fewer than when it was last provided before the Easter break.

Of these patients, the number in intensive care remains the same as prior to the Easter break at 21.

The First Minister said 2,577,816 people have received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccination and 463,780 have received their second dose.

Ms Sturgeon also confirmed schools in Scotland will reopen fully after the Easter break, weeks after they went back in England.

Speaking at the coronavirus briefing in Edinburgh, she said: ‘Having assessed the data with the input of our clinical advisers, when the Easter holidays end virtually all pupils will return to school full time, so secondary schools after Easter will go back to in-person, full-time learning.

‘The one exception to this is children that are on the shielding list, we are continuing to recommend that they stay at home until April 26 and that’s in line with the advice already received from the chief medical officer.’

Ms Sturgeon added: ‘This, I know, will be a huge relief to many children and young people and of course to many parents and carers and as I said a moment ago, by the end of April we want to see children on the shielding list get back to school in person as well.’