The Public Health Division said after Saturday’s vaccination event that control would be “tightened” for Sunday and Monday’s vaccination events, and those not in phase 1A of the state’s top priority , which is limited to health workers and long-term care residents and staff, could be rejected.
It is unclear how ineligible people were allowed to get the vaccine at Saturday’s event at the Dover Motor Vehicle Division. Carney’s office had billed the event as a “Phase 1A vaccination clinic” as Delaware “sprints” to vaccinate Phase 1A individuals. “
Officials have previously said that phase 1B, aimed at front-line essential workers and people aged 65 and over, was expected to begin by the end of the month.
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“We are still in Group 1a and the vaccines today were supposed to be given to health workers and first aid,” House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf said on Saturday in a Facebook post.
“Some people went through and should have been challenged, but they didn’t do it mainly because the staff who did the vaccination were volunteers and didn’t have access to a database to verify that they responded,” Schwartzkopf added. . “Others came and got vaccinated because friends called them or posted them online and told them to get vaccinated because they had gotten theirs.”
Near the end of the event, the number of first-time attendees arriving had been reduced, so the decision was made to try to get some people aged 65 and over to arrive, ”Schwartzkopf said in the message.
“The organizers wanted to use all the vaccine they had, so they immersed themselves in group 1b and made Modern Maturity bring in more than 100 seniors,” he wrote, referring to a community center for the elderly in Dover. .
Andrea Wojcik, a spokeswoman for the Public Health Division, said in an email on Sunday that to test the logistics and vaccination process of the population aged 65 and over once the state moves to phase 1B and to use the available doses of vaccine, DPH asked a small number of organizations with seniors to attend the vaccination events to be held in Dover through Monday.
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Wojcik said in a later email that the technology being tested was for recording and managing vaccinations in clinics.
“The misinformation spread through social media and word of mouth that caused some people to go out and cross the line,” he wrote.
Wojcik did not explain why officials did not announce the test before or when they invited older groups to attend.
“The select group aged 65 and over was included to help test a technology project that will be used to register and process vaccines in the next phase,” Wojcik wrote. “In addition, due to the increased risk of allergic reactions and the medical history most involved, it may take longer for a person 65 years of age or older to process through the vaccination process, including potentially longer observation times after of the vaccine administration, and DPH wanted to review what effect on the clinical driving process, again in preparation for the next phase.
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