After a busy Christmas, Santa has been spotted in a Fife Covid vaccine clinic helping with the effort to get Scots “boosted by the bells”.
Rather than returning to the North Pole for a well-earned rest, NHS Fife said Saint Nick joined their vaccine team to help get people in the Kingdom boosted.
Retired nurse David Smyth, who was until recently the resident Santa at Dobbies Garden Centre in Dunfermline, has come back to the frontline to help his former colleagues.
David retired earlier in 2021 after a 35-year career in the NHS as a paediatric nurse, which included achieving a MSc Advanced Clinical Practitioner degree.
After joining NHS Fife in 2011, David became a member of the children’s community team, providing care to children and families with complex and palliative care needs.
He spent December sprinkling some festive magic in Dunfermline by allowing children to meet Santa but now wants to return to the NHS to help with the huge coronavirus vaccination effort currently underway.
“It’s been really good fun providing a bit of festive magic to the kids of Fife but sadly Santa is only for Christmas,” David said.
He added: “With all that’s going on, the next step for me has been to enlist again with NHS Fife and start helping with Covid vaccinations early next year.
“So, it’ll be a full circle from health service to elf service and back again.”
The health board opened up some 80,000 vaccination appointments between December 17 and the first week of January, helping to meet the aim across Scotland to vaccinate over 80% of over 18s by Hogmanay.
Elf service to health service
National clinical director Professor Jason Leitch said about 72% of adults in Scotland had received their booster shot before Christmas Eve.
Speaking on the BBC Breakfast programme, Prof Leitch said appointments were booked to get the country up to 80%.
“What we need now is that final push to get people to come to fill those appointments,” he said, adding: “That honestly is the best present you could give to any of your relatives, to get yourself protected so that you then protect others.”
