Covid in Scotland: When will I be vaccinated against the virus?

The coronavirus vaccine designed by scientists at Oxford University has been approved for use in the UK.

It marks a major turning point and will lead to a massive expansion in the UK's immunisation campaign. The UK government has ordered 100 million doses from the manufacturer AstraZeneca - enough to vaccinate 50 million people.

More than 50,000 people in Scotland have already received another Covid-19 vaccine, manufactured by Pfizer.

So when will you get yours?

The Pfizer vaccine was first to be approved for use in the UK. Some jabs have already been administered. Two doses are needed about three weeks apart, so supplies will be halved, allowing the second dose to be given within the timeframe.

Deliveries of the vaccine have been arriving in the UK from where they are manufactured in Belgium.

The doses must be kept in ultra cold freezers at -70C until shortly before they are administered.

The freezers are based at all major acute hospitals across the country and on Scotland's islands.

From there, doses can be "packed down" before being diluted for use.

Vaccinators and healthcare staff are being given the jab at vaccination hubs which have been set up in hospitals across Scotland.

The vaccine is being taken to care homes to be administered to people there on site.

But the approval of the Oxford vaccine will lead to a significant increase in vaccination as it is cheap and easy to mass produce.

Crucially it can be stored in a standard fridge - unlike the Pfizer jab which needs ultra cold storage at -70C - so it will be far easier to get the Oxford vaccine to the likes of GP surgeries.

About 160 vaccinators have started work, and having now received their own injections have been working through vaccinating other health and social care workers.

Nicola Sturgeon said that by Monday 14 December more than 18,000 vaccinators and health and social care workers had been given their first dose.

On the same day, the rollout to more than 30,000 care home residents started.

Eventually everyone in Scotland over the age of 18 will be offered a vaccination. That's 4.4m people.

GPs, pharmacists and optometrists are expected to be among 2,000 people recruited by the end of January to administer the vaccines.

The UK's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has drawn up advice on who should be offered the jab.

It has said that the priorities for the first wave of vaccine distribution, from December to February, are:

Those who meet the criteria will be contacted by post or, if they work in health and social care, by their employer.

It has also now been advised by the JCVI that 16 and 17-year-olds who have underlying health conditions should be factored into the first wave.

By giving it to health staff and those most at risk, the aim is to prevent almost 99% of Covid deaths.

The Scottish government has said it should be possible to vaccinate everyone eligible in the first wave by spring of next year.

Prof Jason Leitch, Scotland's national clinical director, has stressed that JCVI advice is broadly to administer the vaccine on the basis of age, not job.

After these people have been vaccinated, the current advice says that those aged 75 and over should be next, followed by those aged 70 and over and people who are clinically extremely vulnerable.

That would be followed by those aged 65 and over, then those under 65 who are at additional clinical risk, such as people with chronic heart, kidney, liver and respiratory diseases.

Then the programme moves on to vaccinating the wider population.

All going well, public health experts have said that mass vaccination of those who are not in the most vulnerable groups would likely take place in spring or summer next year.

But this all really depends on how many doses are available.

There are no plans to make vaccinations mandatory.

Women who are pregnant or who plan to become pregnant in the next three months should not be given the Pfizer jab.

Chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith said this was due to the limited amount of data available on its use within that group.

"It may be that over time we are able to develop more information in relation to that, but at this point in time we are not advising it for that group," he said.

Most children aged 18 and under will not get the Pfizer vaccine. Again, this is because not enough research on using this vaccine on children has been carried out yet.

The UK government is ordering vaccines on behalf of the four nations, and the supply will then be divided up between Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland on the basis of population.

The first minister said Scotland's share of the UK's vaccine supply equates to its 8.2% share of the UK population.

The UK government has secured early access to 357 million doses of experimental vaccines, including:

Although it sounds like a lot of vaccines, remember that most of these vaccines will require patients to be given two doses to be effective.

Until now, the only Covid vaccine that had been approved by the UK's regulator, the MHRA, is the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

The 40 million doses the UK has ordered will be enough to immunise 20 million people.

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine will be able to be deployed "far wider" than the Pfizer drug as it does not need to be kept at a low temperature.

Scotland's health secretary said recently that if it was approved for use before the end of the year it could begin to be rolled out to those over 80 who do not live in care homes from 11 January.

These vaccinations will largely be delivered through primary care settings, like GP surgeries.

In some cases, GP staff will immunise people at home who need it. GPs will also volunteer at vaccination centres.

Trials of the Oxford vaccine, which is being developed by British drug manufacturer AstraZeneca and Oxford University, show it stops an average of 70% of people developing Covid symptoms.

There is also data that suggests adjusting the dose could increase protection up to 90%.

This may be one of the easiest vaccines to distribute, because it does not need to be stored at very cold temperatures.

This vaccine takes a weakened version of a common cold virus from chimpanzees and genetically modifies it to resemble coronavirus to try to provoke an immune response.

The manufacturers of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine say the jab could prevent 95% of people from becoming ill with Covid-19.

It is what's known as an RNA vaccine - a new type of technology. It involves injecting part of the virus' genetic code into the body to train the immune system.

Antibodies and T-cells are then made by the body to fight the coronavirus.

One complication is that the vaccine must be stored at -70C and there were fears that would pose problems in getting it to care homes or to remote communities.

However, it has since transpired that the vaccine can be moved around in an unfrozen state for up to 12 hours and can be stored undiluted for up to five days.

It can also be reduced to smaller pack sizes, which means the vaccine can be taken to immunise smaller groups of people.

Then there is the Moderna vaccine, which has also made it to phase three trials. It's another RNA vaccine.

Moderna believes its vaccine protects 95% of people from getting Covid symptoms.

Only seven million doses have been secured by the UK government so far, and they won't be available until the spring.

However, it does not need to be kept quite as cold as the Pfizer jag and so can be stored in a normal freezer.

Several other vaccines are in the final testing stage, and more results from other teams working on advanced trials are also expected in the coming weeks and months.

It's unlikely you'll get to choose which vaccine you get.

That will depend on a number of factors - what is available, where you are being vaccinated, and what we know about how the vaccines work by the time you are being vaccinated.

Scientists will be studying the efficacy of the injections as people are given them, and it may well turn out that different vaccines suit different parts of the population.

So, it may be that what vaccine you get is dependent on your age, for example. But it is early days - we'll learn more in the months ahead.

It is a national programme, so guidance and logistics will be provided by the Scottish government.

NHS boards will lead local delivery and handle staffing.

From phase two, there will be a booking service.

Public health officials have said that logistical challenges of reaching certain communities will be taken into consideration when supplies are being allocated, to avoid doses being wasted.