ACROSS East Lothian, people are heading into another winter and festive season. In many ways, the situation looks brighter than last year: most adults are fully vaccinated, young people can now get jagged and free lateral flow tests are readily available.

As the shorter days and darker nights draw in, the festive lights are going up. We have a number of cultural events to look forward to this winter. For example, enjoy an excellent traditional pantomime at The Brunton in Musselburgh from December 7 to 31.

At Holyrood, I recently asked the Minister for Culture how the Scottish Government would support opportunities for the culture sector to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic this winter. I was pleased to hear that the Scottish Government had already provided £175 million to the sector, with further rounds of funding being made available next year.

But new risks emerge as more Scots are likely to have a ‘normal’ festive season. Vaccination remains the strongest weapon in our armoury. To date, across Lothian 213,806 doses of the flu vaccination and around 173,191 Covid-19 booster vaccines have been delivered. I commend our vaccination teams, who are working extraordinarily hard to deliver these lifesaving vaccines as quickly as possible.

I urge people aged 50 to 59, those who are 16 or over and are an unpaid carer and teenagers over 16 who are a household contact of an immunosuppressed person to log on to NHS Inform and book your Covid booster and flu jabs for the last days of this month or December.

At the same time, more people aged 60-69 will continue to receive an appointment letter for a slot within the next two weeks. You can also book an appointment via the national helpline on 0800 030 8013. Similarly, anyone that may be having trouble re-arranging their appointment can contact NHS Lothian’s vaccine helpline on 0300 790 6296.

So book your vaccines and enjoy Scotland’s various cultural events that we have all earned and deserve to enjoy this winter.