State’s next vaccine phase to include people 65 and older

DOVER, Del. (AP) - State public health officials have finalized recommendations for the second phase of COVID-19 vaccine distribution in Delaware.

Public health director Dr. Karyl Rattay said Tuesday that second-phase recipients will include front-line essential workers and people 65 and older.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, defines front-line essential workers as first responders such as police and firefighters, school and child care staff, prison staff, and workers in grocery stores, food and agriculture, manufacturing and public transit.

Rattay cautioned that not everyone in those groups will get vaccinated because risk exposure needs to be taken into consideration. She noted, for example, that poultry plant workers would have more difficulty than farmers in adhering to social distancing guidelines.

A State Ethics Advisory Group voted last week to follow the committee’s recommendations to target front-line essential workers and people 75 years and older in the second round of vaccine distribution.

But the Division of Public Health opted to lower the eligibility age in Phase 1B from 75 to 65 based on statewide COVID-related deaths. Officials noted that while the median age for deaths among white and Asian people is 82 and 83 respectively, the median age for deaths among Blacks is 74, and 66 for Hispanics.

“If we went with 75 we would have a real equity issue,” Rattay said.

Vaccinations for the Phase 1B group are expected to begin by the end of January.

Meanwhile, officials said Tuesday that 8,422 people in Delaware have received the first of two doses of the vaccine. Officials are expecting to receive another 14,625 doses from Pfizer this week and 5,800 from Moderna.

Elsewhere, officials in neighboring Maryland reported a total of 36,669 vaccinations as of Wednesday morning, an increase of 8,052 from the previous day. More than half the vaccinations have taken place in the Baltimore metropolitan area. Officials said Maryland’s total vaccine allotment from the federal government through this week will include 140,300 doses of the Moderna vaccine and 133,575 doses of Pfizer vaccine.

Maryland officials have not said when the second phase of vaccine distribution would begin in that state, explaining that they are focused on vaccinating people in the first priority group, which includes front-line health care workers, first responders and long-term care facility staff and residents.

Maryland officials also have not said whether they plan to follow the CDC committee’s recommendation to target people 75 and older and front-line essential workers in the second round. A spokesman for the Maryland Department of Health said Tuesday only that the second-phase would include individuals “with significantly higher risk of severe COVID-19 illness.”

As of Wednesday, Maryland officials were reporting 5,681 COVID-related deaths and 1,756 current hospitalizations.

Delaware officials were reporting 921 deaths and 425 current hospitalizations as of Tuesday evening.