DOVER, Del. (AP) – State public health officials have finalized recommendations for the second phase of COVID-19 vaccine distribution in Delaware.
Director of Public Health Dr. Karyl Rattay said Tuesday that recipients of the second phase will include essential front-line workers and people 65 and older.
The Immunization Practice Advisory Committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or ACIP defines essential front-line workers as first aid, such as police and firefighters, school and daycare staff, staff of prisons and workers in food, food and agriculture, manufacturing and public transport.
Rattay warned that not all groups in these groups will be vaccinated because exposure to risk needs to be considered. He noted, for example, that poultry plant workers would have more difficulty than farmers in meeting social distancing guidelines.
A state ethics advisory group voted last week to follow the committee’s recommendations to target essential front-line workers and people 75 and older in the second round of vaccine distribution.
But the Public Health Division chose to reduce the age of eligibility in phase 1B from 75 to 65 depending on COVID-related deaths statewide. Officials 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 went with 75, we would have a real equity problem,” Rattay said.
Vaccinations for the Phase 1B group are expected to begin in late January.
Meanwhile, officials said Tuesday that 8,422 people in Delaware have received the first of the vaccine doses. Officials expect to receive another 14,625 doses of Pfizer this week and 5,800 of Modern.
Elsewhere, neighboring Maryland officials reported a total of 36,669 vaccines as of Wednesday morning, an increase of 8,052 from the previous day. More than half of the vaccines have been carried out in the Baltimore metropolitan area. Officials said the total Maryland federal government vaccine allocation during this week will include 140,300 doses of the Modern vaccine and 133,575 doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
Maryland officials have not said when the second phase of vaccine distribution in this state would begin, explaining that they are focusing on vaccinating people from the first priority group, which includes front-line health workers, first aid and facility personnel. long-term care and residents.
Maryland officials have also not said whether they plan to follow the CDC committee’s recommendation to target people 75 and older and essential front-line workers in the second round. A Maryland Department of Health spokesman said Tuesday only that the second phase would include people “at a significantly higher risk of severe COVID-19 disease.”
As of Wednesday, Maryland officials reported 5,681 COVID-related deaths and 1,756 current hospitalizations.
Delaware officials reported 921 deaths and 425 current hospitalizations as of Tuesday evening.