Covid Scotland RECAP: Nicola Sturgeon defends exam results system amid claims second crisis looms | Scottish Government urged to put Boris Johnson under pressure over ‘vaccine apartheid’

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is being urged to do more to end the “vaccine apartheid” that has developed between rich and poor nations.

A group of charities is urging both the First Minister and the Scottish Parliament to put pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson ahead of the G7 summit, which gets under way on Friday.

The event, being held in Cornwall, will bring together the leaders of seven highly-developed nations, including US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Campaigners from Oxfam Scotland, Christian Aid Scotland and Global Justice Now Scotland – which are all members of the international People’s Vaccine Alliance – are demanding more action to accelerate the rollout of Covid vaccines to poorer nations.

More than half of adults in Scotland have already had two doses of vaccine, but the People’s Vaccine Alliance fears it could take 57 years for everyone in some countries to be fully protected in this way.

It wants Ms Sturgeon to support a new motion in the Scottish Parliament, urging the Prime Minister to back plans to waive intellectual property rules and insist that the vaccine knowledge and technology is shared through the World Health Organisation’s Covid Technology Access Pool, enabling a life-saving ramping up in global vaccine production.

Some emergency laws put in place at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic could be extended by up to a year if a new Bill to be introduced by the Scottish Government passes.

MSPs passed two emergency coronavirus Acts last year, both in single day sittings, that were aimed at helping the country fight the virus.

The new laws made changes to the justice system, including allowing for the early release of prisoners if the virus caused issues within the prison service, the rental sector and the functions of public bodies.

Covid Recovery Secretary John Swinney announced on Wednesday that work is being done on a new Bill that would extend some of the provisions until March 30 next year, with another possible extension – pending parliamentary approval – to September 30.

Mr Swinney said some of the measures will be dropped, though he did not say which.

“It is clear that some of the provisions in the Act will be required after the current expiry date of September 30 this year in order to respond to the ongoing threat to public health in Scotland posed by Covid,” he said.

“To ensure that public services are able to discharge their functions in the way they were intended to, the Coronavirus (Extensions and Expiry) (Scotland) Bill has been prepared with a view to its introduction later this month to allow scrutiny by the Parliament before the summer recess.”