I’M SURE that everyone was as delighted as I was to see on Tuesday the pictures of the first people in the world being vaccinated against the coronavirus.

The start of the rollout of the UK medicines regulator approved Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine is the first real tangible step towards victory over coronavirus and a step back towards normality that we have seen.

Luckily, we here in the UK have early access to the vaccine thanks to the UK Government securing an order of 40 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine. We were among the first to identify the promise shown by the vaccine, which means that we are at the front of pack as it were for getting it. Alongside that, there are also orders for 300 million further doses from five other vaccine candidates that have yet to report their phase 3 results.

That bigger figure also includes the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which had good news attached to it this week as well. The independent and well-respected medical journal The Lancet declared that it is safe, effective and gives good protection. The data also suggested that it could reduce the spread of Covid, as well as protect against illness and death. All good news and the regulators, who will have seen the same data, are still considering the jab for emergency use, which could mean even more vaccines being available for use.

These first series of vaccinations are a truly historic moment in our fight and struggle against coronavirus. It is now, of course, important we have a scheme and plan for the rollout that works for the whole country so that we are not faced with a postcode lottery on access to the vaccine.

I think everyone would agree there is no room for error in this. In the coming days, it will be imperative that the Scottish Government answer questions on its Covid-19 vaccination programme so that the public can have confidence it is fit for purpose.

We are still waiting for basic answers on freezers and storage of the vaccine, staffing, locations of the vaccine and the long-term plans for vaccinating the wider population. We also need, in my opinion, transparency in the system, which is why I would like to see the number of people who have received the vaccine published every week, similar to the way other information has been.

We also need to ensure that access to vaccine is made as simple as possible so people are not driven away from accessing it due to bureaucratic difficulties. For example, already last week NHS Lothian staff were left waiting up to three hours on the phone to book a slot. That cannot be allowed to continue to happen.

But considering all of what we have been through, I do have faith that we will deliver this and finally offer protection to our people.