LEWES, Del. - Delawareans 16 and older can now register on the state's COVID-19 vaccination waiting list, and get their shots. The state says nearly 35% percent of Delaware's population has received their first dose.
Aspira Health began its vaccination clinic at St. Jude The Apostle Catholic Church on Monday. The clinic began vaccinating teens, as well as adults on Tuesday.
Dr. William Albanese, CEO and Managing Director at Aspira said a lot of younger people came into the vaccination clinic on Tuesday. With the state's vaccination program opening up, Aspira says it will still be able to handle volumes of people.
Aspira’s clinic at the church aims to vaccinate 400 to 600 hundred patients a day.
"Our goal is to get to about 3,000 per week, in other words, vaccinate the entire town of Lewes in about four weeks,” said Dr. Albanese.
Aspira is still prioritizing frontline essential workers and working to get elderly patients vaccinated.
"They're going to be bringing patients up and get them vaccinated in the car, if they are unable to leave their car or come into church,” said Dr. Albanese.
Those who got vaccinated at the clinic were relieved and ready to return to normal.
"I'm just retiring as of Friday and I'm just chilling,” said Charles Carey from Salisbury.
"I'm happy my family is safe from COVID,” said Christopher Lingenfelder from Georgetown.
The clinic at St. Jude’s is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday (closed Wednesday) from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. by appointment only. Aspira Health’s location on Coastal Highway, will continue to vaccinate on the weekends, for those who cannot make it to the clinic at the church. Go to aspirahealth.net to register.
The Division of Public Health is reassuring the public on Tuesday, after confirming 24 people got COVID after taking the vaccine, which medical director, Dr. Rick Hong, says isn't a big surprise since the vaccine is not 100% effective.
“It definitely is very rare. The number 24 compared to the number of people who are fully vaccinated in the state over 100,000, if I recall correctly, is a small percentage,” said Dr. Hong.
Dr. Hong doesn’t want people to assume infection happened after completion of vaccination because it could have happened before. He also added that the CDC says that people can still test positive for up to 90 days after infection.
“You have to recall how many cases we have in the state. It is a lot higher than the 24 that we're reporting after vaccination, so the vaccine is working there's enough data out there to show it's working,” said Dr. Hong.
Dr. Hong is hoping we will see a positive impact from the vaccine late-summer early fall.