Middletown Radio

WILMINGTON, Del. – Governor John Carney, the Delaware Division of Public Health (DPH), and the Delaware Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) announced an expansion on Monday of the State of Delaware’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

• DPH will partner this week with Vault Health and community organizations to begin expanding access to the COVID-19 vaccine among low-income, underserved seniors. Vault will operate a vaccination event targeted toward that population on Tuesday at Delaware Technical Community College in Wilmington. The State of Delaware extended invitations to this event through organizations including the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League, the Latin American Community Center, Reach Riverside, and the Delaware Legislative Black Caucus. The event is already at capacity and no one without an appointment will be vaccinated. 
• DEMA and DPH will partner with Curative – another COVID-19 testing partner – to begin vaccination events for 65 and older Delawareans who have registered on the waiting list at vaccinerequest.delaware.gov. The first Curative events will be held this week in Dover, and DPH is inviting high-risk Delawareans 65 and older who have registered through the waiting list for those appointments. These initial Curative events are expected to vaccinate 750 this week. 
• Planning is underway for another DPH large vaccination event this coming weekend, which will also serve at least 2,000 Delaware seniors from the waiting list by appointment only. Information will be sent for that event to seniors on the waiting list. Delawareans 65 and older can still register on the waiting list. Delawareans without computer access can call the COVID-19 Vaccine Call Center at 1-833-643-1715, and a call center operator will assist them with making the initial request.  
• The State of Delaware expects to increase allocations of the vaccine to certain pharmacies and health care providers that have enrolled in the state’s COVID-19 vaccination program. Enrolled pharmacies and providers, including Delaware’s hospital systems and certain specialty care providers, are vaccinating Delawareans age 65 and older. Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart, Aspira Health, and the Camden Pharmacy also are now providing vaccinations to 65 and older clients with an appointment, with allocations from the State of Delaware. Learn more at de.gov/covidvaccine.
• The Delaware Department of Education (DDOE) will begin vaccination pre-registration for educators and school staff on Tuesday, January 26, for vaccination events. These vaccination events will only be open to those who work in public and private K-12 schools as well as district early childhood education centers. Child care provider vaccination events are being planned in early February. DDOE is following a staged roll-out that includes drive-thru clinics, on-site vaccination events at schools, and partnerships with Acme/Safeway Pharmacies. Additional information and regular updates will be posted to DDOE’s COVID-19 vaccination site: de.gov/k12vaccine

Due to limited vaccine supply, the state’s efforts will focus primarily on administering first doses to eligible individuals. As supply allows, the state will prioritize second doses for 1A individuals at greatest risk of exposure to COVID-19.

“Thousands more Delawareans received access to a life-saving vaccine this weekend – thanks to the hard work of hundreds of volunteers, DelDOT workers, and our teams at DPH and DEMA. I couldn’t be more grateful for their hard work and the hard work of all of our partners,” said Governor Carney. “Our new vaccination partnerships with Vault and Curative will help us vaccinate even more Delawareans, including many of our most vulnerable neighbors. We’ll continue to press forward with the goal of vaccinating as many Delawareans as quickly as possible as the vaccination supply allows.”  

“We know that to reach all of the current and future phases in our vaccination effort, we have to have multiple opportunities and approaches, and we have been planning for that,” said Dr. Karyl Rattay, Director of DPH. “There will be no one right way to get your COVID vaccine, and we are building new access points to serve eligible Delawareans now and in the future.” 

More than 21,000 Delawareans aged 65 or older as well as Phase 1A health care workers received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine during DPH and partner vaccination events the last two weekends in Dover, Wilmington, Delaware City and Georgetown.   

Anyone with a question about COVID-19 should call Delaware 2-1-1. Individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing can text their ZIP code to 898-211. Hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 

Delawareans over the age of 18 are encouraged to download COVID Alert DE, Delaware’s free COVID exposure notification app. Download on the AppStore or Google Play. 

Report a business for COVID-19 non-compliance using this form.  

The Division of Public Health will continue to update the public as more information becomes available. For the latest on Delaware’s response, go to de.gov/coronavirus. 

Learn more about the State of Delaware’s COVID-19 vaccination program at de.gov/covidvaccine.