A SENIOR councillor has called for action to stop Covid-19 vaccines ending up in the bin at the end of daily inoculation sessions in Inverclyde.

Chris McEleny has written to the Health Secretary, who recently warned that supplies could run short in the coming weeks, to raise the alarm.

He wants Jeanne Freeman to consider allowing police officers and firefighters to turn up at our two mass vaccination centres to get vaccines, instead of them going to waste.

The SNP elected member says the frontline staff are out in the community working in situations where social distancing is non-existent.

But NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde say they are taking all steps possible to reduce the amount of waste at Greenock Town Hall and Port Glasgow Town Hall and are working their way through the priority lists.

Mr McEleny said: "I understand that various sectors wish to be higher up the priority list, but I am aware of doses of vaccine being discarded at the end of every session at our distribution centres.

"I would be far more happy if simply any member of the public could be called to turn up and receive a dose off of a waiting list instead of it being binned at the end of the day, but think it would logistically be very easy for on-shift firefighters and police to receive leftover doses."

The vaccination roll-out has been stepped up in recent weeks with the two centres boosting capacity to 1,000 jags a day.

A spokesperson for NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde said: "If any vaccine is unused at the end of a session, we use a cold chain and transportation system which allows doses to be redirected and used elsewhere.

"While this keeps waste to a minimum, in rare instances where wastage would be otherwise unavoidable, we will always try and offer the vaccine to patients in line with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation's priority list.

"This means any potential for waste is even further minimised.

"We’d like to thank all our staff involved in the roll-out of the vaccine as well as everyone eligible who has taken the opportunity to get vaccinated."

The Scottish Government said that they are following the guidelines issued by the JCVI group.

In recent updates both the First Minister and health secretary have warned that the pace of the roll-out could slow in the coming days because of an unexpected shortage in supply.