COVID-19 vaccine dose distribution: FOI release

Information requested

Can you provide the following information please, in excel format and broken down by week (since December 1, 2020 to the date of this request) and manufacturer (ie Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna):

a) The number of Covid-19 vaccine doses allocated to Scotland, ie made available by Public Health England to the Scottish Government for ordering
b) The number of Covid-19 vaccine doses delivered to Scotland, ie delivered from Public Health England to the Scottish Government
c) The number of vaccine doses distributed to each health board in Scotland, ie made available from the Scottish Government to each health board for administration in that health board.
d) The number of vaccine doses held centrally by the Scottish Government and not distributed to health boards

Response

a) This is already published online: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-trends-in-daily-data/ 

Definition: “total number of doses allocated refers to the number of doses that have been made available by Public Health England to the Scottish Government for ordering”

b) This is already published online: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-trends-in-dailydata/

Definition: “total number of doses delivered refers to the number of doses that have been delivered from Public Health England to the ownership of the Scottish Government”. This is stock that has been physically delivered to NHS Scotland locations and stock that is in the process of being distributed by the NHS Scotland contracted distributor (there can be a few days’ time lag between order and delivery  to primary care locations while the vaccine is within the distributor’s network).

c) The total number of doses delivered into NHS Scotland control (Question B) provides the total number of doses that have been delivered to NHS Scotland locations or are in the process of being delivered (there may be a few days’ time lag between order and delivery to primary care locations by the NHS Scotland contracted distributor).

In addition there was stock allocated to Health Boards to order but awaiting an order being placed; as Vaccine Holding Centres can access next day delivery of vaccines, some chose to keep stock ring-fenced for the Health Board at the distributor and draw down close to the point of use, for example where there were multiple receiving sites within the Board, to give flexibility to draw down where needed and minimise local transfers of stock; this information wasn’t kept in a consistent and validated reportable form.

d) In the early stages of the programme, a small central contingency, for example for delivery delays was maintained. More recently, larger volumes have been held centrally to distribute to Boards on demand to cover second doses at 8 weeks.

An exemption under section(s) 28 Relations within the United Kingdom applies to some of the Information you requested is exempt if it is likely to substantially prejudice relations between the UK administrations; UK Government, Scottish Government.

An exemption under section(s) 33 (Commercial Interests and the Economy) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. This exemption is for commercial sensitivity of manufacturers.

These exemptions are subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because of the interest in upholding the principles of transparent and accountable governance. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in protection of personal information.

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