DELAWARE- With more Delawareans now eligible to receive a coronavirus vaccine, the COVID-19 taskforce has refined its approach to where people make appointments.
Those with chronic conditions and their caregivers are to contact their health provider who will administer the vaccines. According to Division of Public Health Medical Director Dr. Richard Hong, If their doctor is not a state approved provider, they will refer to another health system.
"We are relying on those providers to make those clinical decisions on who should be vaccinated first and they are not tied to that list," Dr. Hong said. "Because we all know one disease process is not necessarily more higher risk to another. It's really at the individual level based on the situation."
People who are 50 years of age and older can sign up at a pharmacy to get the vaccine, but starting on Monday, those who have signed up on the waiting list will start to receive information about mass vaccination sites. Some sites will have Johnson & Johnson available only as the state still has a small amount, but is not expecting a delivery before the end of the month.
"To make it equitable we want to do it from a state mass vaccination approach until we get a more steady supply of J&J for our providers. But again, it’s going to be a difficult decision to be able to get all J&J requests filled for J&J needs.
Even though there is now an age-based approach, there is also the argument of frontline versus essential workers. People who cannot social distance due to the type of work they do are considered more high risk then people who can protect themselves and the others around them.
Vaccination sites will continue as long as supply continues to come in. Dover International Speedway has been the most used site over the past few weeks but more places will become vaccination centers in the near future.