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Delaware opens 4 new vaccine sites, for walk-ups or appointments

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Delaware is opening four sites where people can be vaccinated, through appointment or just by walking in

 

 

The Delaware Division of Public Health has opened four stand-alone COVID-19 vaccination clinics this week that will take both appointments and walk-ins.

They are expected to stay open for several months as option for those seeking vaccination, including those 12-and-older, starting today.

Appointments can be made at the new, or other Public Health sites, by calling 1-833-643-1715.

The new clinics use Pfizer vaccine, which was approved Monday for 12-year-olds and up. Written parental consent is required to vaccinate individuals younger than 18 years old, but the parent is not required to be with the child.

“We’re in kind of a transition period as we move to start to vaccinate the younger foks,” Gov. John Carney said Tuesday during his weekly COVID-19 press conference.

The clinics were created partly to replace the Dover Speedway vaccination site that has helped the state give more than 70,000 doses of vaccine to Delawareans. It had to be shut down so the track could get ready for this month’s NASCAR race. 

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The clinics will be open Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. and 1:15 and 4 p.m.

Find them here:

  • Oxford Plaza, 256 Chapman Road, Suite 100, Newark
  • Canby Park, 1946 Maryland Ave., Wilmington
  • Blue Hen Corporate Center, 655 S. Bay Road, Suite 1A, Dover
  • Georgetown Plaza, 19 Georgetown Plaza, Georgetown

During the state’s weekly COVID-19 press briefing. Dr. Karyl Rattay, director of the Division of Public Health, said children ages 12-17 can the vaccine from pediatricians, pharmacies, Nemours and ChristianCare healthcare systems. Curative vaccination sites will now be opening appointment bookings and DPH sites will be available for walk in. 

A.J. Schall Jr., director of the Delaware Emergency Management Agency,. said during the press conference that the state will be altering its tactics in vaccination. 

Instead of attempting the vaccination of thousands of people in one day at a small number of testing sites, Delaware will attempt to vaccinate smaller numbers of people at multiple smaller events.

In short, he said, instead of people coming to the vaccine,  the vaccine will be coming to the people wherever they might be congregating in larger numbers. 

Some of the first partner events and locations will include firehouses, community festivals, farmers markets, outdoor concerts, Blue Rocks games, the beach area, Newark’s Alfresco dining nights and, ironically, the NASCAR race. 

 The state hopes that by making vaccination easier and more accessible to people from 18 into their 50s will help the vaccination rates of those age groups rise.

Schall the state plans to pay for an after-action report of Delaware’s response to the pandemic, which will be created over the next two years. It will describe what the state did and did not do well over the course of the last year,  in an effort to be better prepared if another pandemic strikes.

Carney announced during this press release all measures of COVID-19 infection seem to be steadily declining.

The state is seeing an average of 163 new cases per day and has a 4% positive test rate, well under the 5% it was desperate to hit just a few weeks ago.

On Tuesday, 101 people were hospitalized becaue of COVID-19. This weekend that number dropped to 95. That’s the lowest it’s been since March 9. 

He also said 816,090 vaccinations have been distributed in the state of Delaware , 336,382 people have been fully vaccinated, 55.4% of Delawareans ages 16+ have been fully vaccinated and 88.3% of eligible Delawareans ages 65+ have been given at least one dose of vaccine.

The state is closing in on a 60% vaccination rate, Carney pointed out. 

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