Covid in Scotland: 'Get fully vaccinated if you want to travel'

People yet to take up a Covid vaccine are being told international travel will be difficult without it.

The Balearics have been added to the amber list from Monday, meaning only the fully vaccinated and children will be able to return to the UK without going into quarantine.

Scotland's vaccine rates have slowed since focus moved to 18-29s.

National clinical director Prof Jason Leitch said travel was another incentive for the cohort to get jabbed.

It was announced on Wednesday that Ibiza, Majorca, Menorca and Formentera were being moved onto the amber travel list for England. The Scottish and Welsh governments followed suit and Northern Ireland is expected to join them.

The rules take effect from 04:00 BST on Monday - 15 days after they were moved to the green watchlist.

The addition of popular holiday destinations to the amber list makes the requirement to have both Covid jabs more pressing for those who do not want to have to self-isolate.

Prof Leitch told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme: "We can't promise people that when they travel the rates won't change. But we have to be able to stop the importation of cases and this is a consequence of that public health advice.

"It is a complex decision and not one we like to take. I love to travel. I would love to be going overseas this summer, and for business in the autumn, but I think that is getting unlikely."

He said the situation should encourage the uptake of vaccines in the lower age groups, which has so far been slow.

"My advice to everybody over 18 is, if travel is an incentive for you, then here is another reason - if you needed another reason other than the illness - to get yourself vaccinated," he said.

Lisa Rickard is due to be going to Majorca in three weeks' time.

"It was supposed to be an impromptu family holiday but it has grown arms and legs and turned into an absolute nightmare," she said.

"I booked for myself and my four children to go to Majorca on 4 August just for one week.

"But now plans are up in the air because I am not fully vaccinated and neither are my children. I have to ask work for extra time off to quarantine. It could mean me having to take three weeks off work.

"The guidelines are not clear if my children will have to isolate off school when we come home. Up until yesterday it wasn't clear if children under 11 would need to take PCR tests."

The overall cost of the holiday has gone up - with an extra £325 each for Lisa and her two teenage sons just for tests. And the move to the amber list has meant an extra £170 each for the day two and day eight tests.

She said: "I booked it last week and the flights were so cheap. I thought I had grabbed a bargain but now it is out of control."

Prof Leitch also admitted that uptake was not high in the 18-29 age group and, as a result, the national vaccination figures were not increasing as rapidly as previously.

On Tuesday, just 6,875 first doses were given compared to 10,688 the Tuesday before.In total, 72.3% of the entire Scottish population has had their first dose, and 53.4% have had both doses.

Prof Leitch said: "I would agree things have slowed down a bit. It is unavoidable. You can only do second doses if you have done first doses. That's fixed and going well and people are coming for those.

"The tricky part which is harder to control is 18 to 29-year-olds getting first doses. We expected it to be slower, that's why we are making it as open as we possibly can. The first dose number is slowing a bit and we expected it to at this age."

He added: "To get out the end of the pandemic globally and in Scotland, we need big population immunity numbers. We have tried to do lots of communication with young people, we have met with Young Scot, we have mobile open access clinics, fixed open access clinics across the country, third sector organisations and further colleges doing outreach. I think we have done well."

Health secretary Humza Yousaf said that by Sunday, every single adult over 18 will have been offered a first dose of a vaccine.

He said that more than 65% of the population had now received both doses, but that the younger population was proving difficult to reach.

"We are clearly facing a challenge: the younger cohorts we go to, the higher the do not attend rates are," he added.

"If I can encourage everybody to get vaccinated, make sure you attend your appointment, or go to one of the drop-in clinics. They will take you at any time at the drop-in clinics, for your first, or if it has been eight weeks, for your second."

He said it was the government's plan to have the entire eligible population fully vaccinated by mid September.