THE Conservative group on Inverclyde Council is calling for teachers and police officers to be vaccinated against Covid-19 as a priority.

Their councillors say the two key public sector professions should be 'fast-tracked' once current priority groups have been immunised.

The Tele reported on Saturday how over 4,000 people in the area had received their inoculation.

But there is a growing demand for educational professionals and others involved in frontline work to get their vaccines as quickly as possible.

Councillor David Wilson said: "Vaccinating teachers will allow schools to be returned to normal as soon as possible.

"We know that blended learning affects their progress and there is nothing to beat face to face teaching.

"We are also asking our police to visit houses and premises and break up illegal gatherings and they deserve as much protection as we can give them."

The Scottish Government says it is adhering to the priority groups drawn up based on advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

Frontline health and social care workers, elderly care home residents and their carers, and people aged 80 and over are being vaccinated first.

Letters are also going out to people aged over 70 calling them for their jags at Greenock Town Hall when it opens as an appointment-only mass vaccination centre on Monday.

Police Scotland Chief Constable Iain Livingstone has said he has 'legitimate concerns' on when officers will receive the vaccine and has raised the topic with government officials.

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS, Scotland’s largest teaching union, has also called for his members to get the vaccine as soon as possible a way to get schools back to normal.

Scottish Conservatives leader, Douglas Ross MP, said: “It is a no brainer that police officers and teachers should be next.

"Frontline police officers routinely deal with the public, enter people's homes and spend time in hospitals.

"They deserve to be protected.

"Once schools re-open, teachers will be mixing with large numbers of pupils.

"Protecting them quickly will make it easier and safer to get kids back into classrooms, which is absolutely vital after the disruption of the past year."