To get vaccinated, older adults in Delaware navigate web-based system, hourslong lines - The News Journal

The recent push to speed up COVID-19 vaccinations has created uncertainty around second doses among health care workers and older adults.

At almost every turn in its early stages, Delaware's vaccine plan has prompted confusion and frustration among the health care workers, first responders and older adults who officials say deserve protection from the novel coronavirus's deadly effects first.

Thousands of older adults in Delaware were registered to be vaccinated on Sunday, Jan.

The Medical Society of Delaware said the Division of Public Health told its organization the state is unable to guarantee the availability of second doses and schedule specific sites for Delawareans to receive them. .

According to an email obtained by Delaware Online/The News Journal, the Office of Emergency Medical Services, which helped orchestrate vaccine events for first responders, has paused all previously scheduled second vaccine dose dates until further notice.

In an email to The News Journal, Division of Public Health spokeswoman Jennifer Brestel said, "Second doses are being provided as the supply of vaccine to Delaware from the government allows.".

Well before worrying about second doses, several older adults told The News Journal they have had difficulty navigating the online appointment system required to be vaccinated at the mass vaccination events.

More than 10 months after the pandemic hit the First State, Delaware's vaccine plan currently hinges on older adults being able to navigate a series of emails to make an appointment and to produce a QR code to present to vaccine site volunteers to prove they've completed a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-mandated medical history form.

Thousands of older adults in Delaware were registered to be vaccinated Sunday, Jan.

Even if she did receive an appointment, a drive to the Delaware City DMV facility would be a nonstarter, she said.

"For me to go to Delaware City is like telling me to drive to Alaska," she said.

The Division of Public Health said the inability of many to complete the CDC form before their appointments contributed to Saturday's delays.

The situation appeared to improve by Sunday afternoon when the Division of Public Health reported wait times of an hour in Delaware City and 15 to 20 minutes in Georgetown.

To speed up Sunday's event, the Division of Public Health added state troopers to both locations to help traffic flow and moved phase 1A health care workers at Delaware City to a separate pool.

Spokeswoman Andrea Wojcik said the Delaware City and Georgetown facilities did not have as much space as the Dover DMV facility, where the Division of Public Health tested its system for phase 1B last weekend.

Vehicles line up at the Delaware City DMV as those 65 and older wait to get a COVID-19 vaccination shortly before 5 p.m.

"We are, I think, holding a small amount of second doses as are maybe some of our providers, but there’s a greater priority in moving and getting more and more people with that first dose," Carney said

In the final days of the Trump administration, outgoing Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar encouraged states to offer the vaccine to older adults and stop holding back second doses, saying the administration was going to release all of its reserve doses

Officials later clarified that all of those reserve doses were already earmarked as booster shots for people who had gotten the vaccine, and their release would support people who needed their second dose, not new pools of people who were getting their first shot

Azar said moving forward the federal government would include doses for new people as well as second doses in each weekly shipment

State officials said getting second doses to Delawareans hinges on how much vaccine the federal government allots the state, which they said under Trump was uneven week to week and often fell short of estimates