Delaware is planning a 12-day “sprint” to vaccinate health care and frontline workers in Phase 1A.
“We need to increase the throughput,” Gov. John Carney said Carney who admitted to a slow start to the program on the part of providers and the state.
State Division of Public Health Director Dr. Karyl Rattay said the vaccination ramp-up would use the Department of Motor Vehicles sites during the weekend. In addition to health care workers, emergency medical technicians and police are included in 1A.
Also moving into operation for 1A are vaccination programs that will include CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, and some Acme-Safeway, Walmart, and Giant stores.
The DMV sites are expected to be used for Phase 1B, given their ability to handle drive-up traffic. Phase 1 will be a massive undertaking that will include more than 100,000 people over 65 and workers in areas such as food processing and grocery stores.
Rattay said Phase 1B would get underway before doses are administered to people in Phase 1A, if the vaccine is available. The health director said most of the recently shipped doses of vaccine are being sent to long-term care facilities under a federal program.
There have been scattered complaints about health care personnel not being on vaccine lists and the state administering less than half of available doses in . the 1A category.
The federal government has been recommending that more doses be administered to those over 65.
Rattay also cited delays in receiving vaccination information.
She estimated that the number of doses administered is 10,000 higher than the number shown on the state’s dashboard. The dashboard shows nearly 27,000 inoculations and a supply of about 57,000 doses. That figure has barely budged in the past week.
Delaware Emergency Management Agency Director A.J. Schall said work is underway to have hospital systems work with other health care providers regarding vaccinations.
Rattay and Schall said multiple options would be available for medical workers as the vaccination system is built out during the “sprint.”
