Lothian MSP Miles Briggs, Co-convenor of the Cancer Cross Party Group in The Scottish Parliament, has submitted a motion at the Parliament calling on The Scottish Government to consider prioritising people receiving palliative care and their immediate families in the forthcoming rollout of Covid-19 vaccines.
The motion acknowledges the immense strain that the Covid-19 pandemic and the necessary public health response have placed on many people with pre-existing medical conditions, especially people diagnosed with a terminal illness and who are receiving palliative care.
Prioritising people who have a terminal illness for a Covid-19 vaccine would allow them to live life as fully as possible with family and friends in the limited time they have left.
The motion also urges The Scottish Government to consider allowing clinicians discretion to fast-track individual patients and their immediate family members whose need for vaccination is deemed to be most urgent where it is clinically safe and appropriate to do so.
Mr Briggs said: “The arrival of a vaccine for Covid-19 is what we have all been waiting for and means that Scotland can start recovering from this cruel virus.
“With the rollout out of the vaccine to start next week, The Scottish Government is now facing the difficult decisions of who should get the vaccine first.
“My motion at The Scottish Parliament, has called on Ministers to allows clinicians discretion to fast-track individual patients and their immediate family members, so that the people diagnosed with a terminal illness can see their families and loved ones in the limited time they have left.”
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