Flu and COVID-19 vaccination programme - autumn/winter 2021-2022: equality impact assessment

What might prevent the desired outcomes being achieved?

87. Achieving the desired short and long term aims of the policy is dependent on the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines that are produced and distributed to the people of Scotland. There are multiple dependencies which may prevent such an outcome. These are, but not limited to:

• vaccine efficacy and/or immunogenicity in different age and risk groups;
• the safety of administration in different age and risk groups;
• the effect of the vaccine on acquisition of infection and transmission;
• the transmission dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the UK population;
• the epidemiological, microbiological, and clinical characteristics of COVID-19, in particular, emerging variants and the effect of the vaccine on these variants and any vaccine escape;
• secure supply of effective vaccines, including the impact of challenges with development, manufacture and logistics which may be affected by geopolitical issues;
• the storage, transportation and pack down of available COVID-19 vaccines
• the lack of single dose COVID-19 vials which would facilitate opportunistic vaccination for example in primary care and community pharmacy settings; and
• inequitable access to and uptake of the vaccine across the Scottish population.