Week 38: Next round of vaccinations upcoming
Delaware health officials are ramping up to begin Phase 1b of the COVID-19 vaccination plan.
The next group includes frontline essential workers and persons 65 years and older. Frontline essential workers include firefighters and police, teachers, school support staff and child care staff, food and agriculture, manufacturing, corrections, U.S. Postal Service, public transit and grocery store workers.
Currently, the state is in Phase 1a of vaccine rollout which includes vaccinations for healthcare personnel with direct contact with ill patients or infectious material, emergency medical services agencies and long-term care staff and residents.
Next phase by end of January
Vaccination for Phase 1b groups is expected to begin by the end of January. How many doses of the vaccine each group will get is dependent on vaccine supply.
State health officials said due to limited supplies of the vaccines, they may not be available to everyone in Phase 1b initially.
Individuals 65 and over will be asked to contact their healthcare provider near the end of January to discuss their options for receiving the vaccine. The next phases after 1b could see vaccine availability in mid- to late February, and it likely will be April before there is more widespread availability based on current supply, officials said.
Since Dec. 15, 8,422 vaccine doses have been administered in Delaware, and a total of 28,400 combined doses of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines have been received. All of the state’s hospital systems have received vaccine for staff. Some long-term care facilities began vaccinating in the last two weeks, while waiting for the federal pharmacy partnership program in Delaware to kick off this week. Last week, Kent County EMS vaccinated some of its staff, while more will be vaccinated this week. New Castle County and Sussex County EMS have plans to vaccinate staff this week as well.
As is currently the case with healthcare workers to whom the vaccine has been distributed, leaders in these industries will be asked to identify staff to receive the vaccine before others based on factors such as frequent close contact with the public and inability to social distance consistently at work.
For more information
Delaware's vaccine call center is available at 1-833-643-1715 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. People can email their questions to: Vaccine@Delaware.gov, or go to de.gov/covidvaccine for up-to-date information.
CAPE STUDENTS RETURN – Students in the hybrid system in the Cape Henlopen School District return to school Monday, Jan. 4. Most other districts will return to their schedule, after nearly three weeks of remote-only learning, on Monday, Jan. 11.
NO JURY TRIALS – The COVID-19 judicial state of emergency has been extended until at least Wednesday, Feb. 3, with all jury trials on hold.
