Delaware continues to focus on distributing second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
And it’s still not clear when the state will resume administering first doses to those still waiting for them.
There are about 123,000 people over the age of 65 on Delaware’s wait list for seniors to get the vaccine. So far about 40% of those have received the first dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.
State Public Health Director Dr. Karyl Rattay says Delaware is still working to “get over the hump” of second vaccine doses before it moves to the next in line for the first dose.
She adds the ongoing six-day mass vaccination event at the Dover International Speedway is helping to cover ground on second doses.
“We are going to be able to focus much more of our allocation in the coming week than we did this week on first doses, and we’re looking forward to getting back to offering more first doses to Delaware seniors,” said Rattay.
Delaware Emergency Management Agency Director AJ Schall says there’s still about 3,800 slots open at the the Dover event this week.
“Come down here and get that second dose and take that worry of trying to find someplace else to get it, because we know it’s a supply and demand curve right now and we want to take advantage of this efficiency we have here and the support we have for the next few days,” said Schall.
Delaware officials continue to maintain that the limiting factor on vaccine distribution in the state is the federal supply of it.
About 182,000 vaccines have been administered statewide to date out of the roughly 190,000 Delaware has received. About 50,000 of those are second doses and Delaware is looking to give out about 18,000 second doses over the course of this week.
