By Glenn Rolfe

GEORGETOWN — Vehicle inspection yielded to mass drive-thru coronavirus vaccination Saturday in Georgetown, the start of a weekend rollout of Delaware’s Phase 1B with emphasis on Delawareans 65 and older.

Long Neck residents Bill Staab, 67, and wife Judy Rorrer, 69, were among the senior citizens who made good on their appointments and received the COVID-19 vaccine.

Although traffic with vaccine seekers bound for the Georgetown Department of Motor Vehicles — the serpentine staging area for the six-hour drive-thru clinic — at times led to lengthy backups along southbound US 113 and South Bedford Street, the couple said it was well worth the wait.

“Oh yes, for sure,” said Mr. Staab, who rolled up his sleeve and received the dose from a member of the Sussex County Emergency Medical Services staff. “It was very well organized, too. It surprised me. At first, I was like, ‘Oh, it’s going to be a cluster.’ But it worked out really well.”

“Obviously, there is a lot of interest for people.” said Delaware Division of Public Health spokeswoman Sharon Smith. “It’s moving. Once you get in here it’s moving pretty well.”

Lewes residents Charles Finn, 72, and wife Louise, 65, had a different perspective as they waited rather impatiently to funnel through the final stage and receive their shots in the DMV inspection bays.

“It was OK up to here. But this last checkpoint, it was just … a mess,” said Mr. Finn.

“A mess,” echoed Ms. Finn.

Jen Brestel, DPH spokeswoman, said they wanted to try to prevent backups and delays as much as possible.

“We are also trying to emphasize that it is important that individuals with appointments fill out the medical information in their VAMS (Vaccine Administration Management System) account ahead of their appointment, as that can take time on site to have to fill that in when they arrive,” Ms. Brestel said.

“Saturday’s vaccination events in Delaware City and Georgetown are by appointment only for seniors who completed the appointment process through the VAMS system by selecting a location, date and time,” Ms. Brestel said. “If you properly scheduled it online, you received an email with a QR code. For those with confirmed appointments who may have been be sitting in a traffic line this afternoon, your appointment will be honored after the scheduled time. Please be patient. Those without appointments (such as those who made a vaccination request but have not yet been offered an appointment) will not be vaccinated.”

Last week, through a new system, DPH on Thursday contacted 11,500 seniors, offering appointments for the large Saturday and Sunday vaccination events in Georgetown and Delaware City in New Castle County.

Appointment invitations for these events were extended with highest priority for the limited slots going to individuals with age and health conditions that put them at greater risk of COVID-19 incidence or mortality.

Collectively, 13,500 vaccinations are planned in these weekend clinics in Georgetown and Delaware City. That includes the 11,500 senior citizens and 2,000 Phase 1A health care personnel with appropriate documentation from their employer or DPH.

“We are only vaccinating people today who are 65 and older and have an appointment, and also frontline healthcare workers in the 1A group,” Ms. Smith emphasized. The 1A group could include students who are in educational programs that put them in hospital and medical settings.

She noted some people without appointments did attempt unsuccessfully to get in line during Saturday’s Georgetown clinic, a situation that occurred the previous weekend in Dover.

“We did have some people who tried to do that, and we had to turn them away, and they did not get a shot,” Ms. Smith said. “You have to either have an appointment, or you have to be somebody from that 1A group that has documentation.”

Anyone under 65 receiving the vaccination would have been eligible through appointment as healthcare workers, Ms. Smith said.

A total of 85,000 persons had requested vaccinations through the new system as of 4 p.m. Friday, according to DPH. Individuals still on the request waiting list are reminded that they must wait to receive an appointment invitation for a vaccination event listed in VAMS.

A place on the waiting list does not a secure a spot for a vaccination anywhere else, such as pharmacies or medical providers that may be offering them. Even after individuals have submitted their initial request in the state’s online system, if they do get an opportunity to receive a vaccine from their medical provider, employer, or pharmacy, they are advised to take advantage of it.

As of the state’s coronavirus data dashboard update late Saturday morning, the state had received 96,325 doses with 64,690 doses administered.

The Georgetown clinic was supported by Sussex EMS, Beebe Healthcare, Delaware Department of Transportation, Delaware State Police and the National Guard.

“And we had other miscellaneous volunteers,” said Ms. Smith.

On hand with dozens of volunteers from Beebe Healthcare was Dr. David Tam, BEEBE’s President/CEO. Beebe personnel worked several of the bays to administer vaccinations.

“Many people are volunteering their time and energy, because you know they need the people that have the clinical skills to vaccinate. That is what we have at Beebe Healthcare,” said Dr. Tam.

His message to the community is simple.

“Get the vaccine. Talk to your doctor. Make sure that you address the concerns that you might have,” said Dr. Tam. “Even though I don’t practice as a physician anymore I get all kinds of questions about things like, ‘If I’m on this kind of medication or I have this kind of allergy, what do I do?’ So talk to your doctor. Call us at Beebe Healthcare, or email us through the website and we’ll be able to answer those questions.

“But get the vaccine. It’s the sure-fire way along with continuing to do these things (masks, social distancing and frequently washing hands) that will help decrease the infection rate of the community and eventually allow us to get back to a normal lifestyle.

“Vaccination is still a medical procedure. So people have the right to decide whether or not they want the vaccine,” Dr. Tam said. “We have a very low declination rate (at Beebe) of people who said, ‘Well, I’d like to hold off,’ because some people may be waiting for another vaccine or something like that. But everybody has been offered the opportunity to get a vaccine. We have a large number of the staff that have been vaccinated. Almost all the staff have now gotten their second dose as well.”

Beebe’s plan is to continue to be engaged in the clinic and vaccination effort in downstate Delaware.

“This is really something we are looking at from a regional, countywide perspective as we continue our plans, once the vaccine is more available to do things in the community,” said Dr. Tam. “As you may know we went ahead and said, ‘You know what, we’re going to try and vaccinate all the other doctors, dentists, funeral parlor workers, everybody else that is in that 1A group as fast possible.’ We’ve been doing that at the Rollins Campus for the last two or three weeks so that we can get to doing 1B.”