A mega coronavirus vaccine site opened in Delaware. NBC10’s Steven Fisher has the details.
More than 11,000 people received the coronavirus vaccine in Delaware over the weekend as the state entered Phase 1B of its vaccination rollout plan.
The Delaware Division of Public Health (DPH) vaccinated 11,154 people at events in Delaware City and Georgetown from Friday to Sunday. Those vaccinated include people 65 years of age and older (Phase 1B) as well as health care personnel (Phase 1A).
In all, the state has vaccinated more than 21,000 people over the past eight days.
There were reports of slow lines and heavy traffic at vaccination sites on Saturday and the DPH and other officials are working to make adjustments in order to prevent this at future events. The delays were caused by people arriving without an appointment and other people who had appointments not completing their pre-vaccination screening online before arriving. There were also technology issues caused by the cold weather.
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A separate area at the Delaware City site and a separate lane at the Georgetown site were implemented on Sunday for Phase 1A health care workers in order to help deal with the heavy traffic.
“The issues Saturday were not what we planned, not what we wanted to see, and certainly not what we wanted our residents to experience. Our hardworking volunteers and staff stayed more than 3 hours later than scheduled Saturday to vaccinate all those with appointments, and then the DPH team and our partners worked into the night to identify the issues and take steps to improve things for Sunday,” DPH Director Dr. Karyl Rattay said.
“Sunday went much more smoothly and was more the event we intended to have. It was a learning experience and, most importantly, we extended the first dose of vaccine protection to more than 11,000 Delawareans.”
CLICK HERE for more information on Delaware’s vaccine rollout plan.
