Bye bye to Phase 1C vaccination timetable

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Good afternoon,

In recent weeks,  the question on employers’ minds has been when  Delaware would move Covid-19 vaccinations to  Phase 1C. The category was expected to include a large percentage of the public-facing workforce.

We received an answer that some will not like yesterday at Gov. John  Carney’s weekly Covid-19 briefing.

With vaccine in greater supply and about two-thirds of Delaware’s over 65 population getting shots, Carney announced that the state would add those over 50 to the vaccination eligibility list. Also eligible will be those with underlying medical conditions, another group that Covid-19 preys upon.


Editor’s note: Due to operator error, this column was not posted in yesterday’s newsletter, with the former column appearing for a second straight day.  My apologies  for running the same column twice.

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Determining the seriousness of underlying conditions is  the tricky part. Obviously, the State of Delaware can’t look through medical records. That task will be left up to physicians. If their practices are not offering  vaccines, those deemed eligible will be referred to the state’s hospital systems.

With no online access for obvious reasons, expect phone lines to be jammed at your doctor’s office. An email is an option at some practices.

Meanwhile, Delaware and other states are moving toward a May 1 deadline. President Biden has declared that all Americans should be able to sign up for vaccinations by that date.

For now, it appears that vaccinations of educators and poultry processing workers, as well as ongoing efforts to get shots to vulnerable communities, the fragile elderly, and others, will make Phase 1C largely meaningless.

Left out are frontline workers in retail, restaurants, casinos, hotels and the list goes on.

It is true that adding thousands of  people  to the vaccine pool will make it temporarily tougher for the more vulnerable to the virus to get vaccines.

 Regardless,  giving 1B  preference to those who work near customers would seem to be a sound public health strategy to this layman.

 Meanwhile, restaurant workers in seventeen states, including California and New York, are now eligible for vaccines, with two more states expected to join that group. 

On Thursday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan moved that  state to its second vaccination phase. Those eligible will include workers in construction, food services, utilities, financial services, IT, and other areas. Delaware should follow Hogan’s lead. – Doug Rainey, chief content officer.

 

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