DOVER, Del. (AP) – State public health officials have finalized recommendations for the second phase of distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine in Delaware.
Public health director Dr. Karyl Rattay said on Tuesday that recipients of the second phase would include essential frontline workers and people 65 and older.
The Disease Control and Prevention Center, or ACIP, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, defines essential frontline workers as first responders, food and agriculture, manufacturing and public transport.
Rattay warned that not everyone in these groups will be vaccinated because risk exposure must be taken into account. She noted, for example, that poultry farmers would have a harder time than farmers in adhering to social distancing guidelines.
A State Ethics Advisory Group voted last week to follow the committee’s recommendations to target essential frontline workers and people aged 75 and over in the second round of vaccine distribution.
But the Public Health Division chose to reduce the Phase 1B eligibility age from 75 to 65 based on COVID-related deaths across the state. The authorities noted that while the average age for deaths among whites and Asians is 82 and 83 respectively, the average age for deaths among blacks is 74 and 66 for Hispanics.
“If we were 75, we would have a real issue of shares,” said Rattay.
Vaccinations for the Phase 1B group are expected to begin in late January.
Meanwhile, officials said on Tuesday that 8,422 people in Delaware received the first of two doses of the vaccine. Authorities expect to receive another 14,625 doses from Pfizer this week and 5,800 from Moderna.
Elsewhere, authorities in neighboring Maryland reported a total of 36,669 vaccinations on Wednesday morning, an increase of 8,052 over the previous day. More than half of the vaccinations occurred in the Baltimore metropolitan area. Officials said the federal government’s total distribution of Maryland vaccines until this week will include 140,300 doses of the Moderna vaccine and 133,575 doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
Maryland officials did not say when the second phase of vaccine distribution would begin in that state, explaining that they are focused on vaccinating people in the first priority group, which includes frontline health workers, first responders and staff from long-term care facilities. permanence and residents.
Maryland officials also did not say whether they plan to follow the CDC committee’s recommendation to target people aged 75 and over and essential frontline workers in the second round. A Maryland Department of Health spokesman said on Tuesday only that the second phase would include individuals “at significantly higher risk of serious COVID-19 disease”.
On Wednesday, Maryland officials reported 5,681 COVID-related deaths and 1,756 current hospitalizations.
Delaware officials reported 921 deaths and 425 current hospitalizations on Tuesday night.