By Tim Mastro

WILMINGTON — About 7,500 individuals signed up for the state’s COVID-19 vaccine waiting list, as of Tuesday afternoon, when it opened to all Delawareans 50 years old and older, according to the Delaware Division of Public Health.

Large-scale vaccination events will begin to serve the expanded waiting list Saturday and Sunday at Dover International Speedway. Individuals can still sign up for the waiting list by visiting vaccinerequest.delaware.gov.

In the weeks ahead, Delawareans registered on the waiting list will receive invitations for speedway events, Curative vaccination sites and other community vaccination clinics, the DPH said. Invitations for the limited appointments will be based on risk factors, including pre-existing medical conditions.

“We certainly expect more people to sign up than we’re able to serve in the first week or two,” said DPH director Dr. Karyl Rattay. “Don’t expect an invitation right away. We will be sending some out pretty soon just like we did with 65 and up, based on risk factors. Those who are older and have risk factors should expect to get a vaccine sooner than a perfectly healthy 50-year-old.”

State agencies are also working with additional essential workforce employers to vaccinate their employees at the vaccination events this weekend. Essential employees may receive invitations from their employers to attend this weekend’s events.

The state has already held vaccination events at sites like Dover International Speedway for frontline workers such as police officers, firefighters, teachers, child care providers, food processing workers, correctional officers, postal service workers, public transit workers and grocery workers.

Other frontline workers are eligible, but will be prioritized based on frequency of contact with public, inability to work from hom, or inability to social distance while on the job site, according to the DPH. This group includes transportation and logistics, food service, shelter and housing construction, finance, IT and communications, energy, media, legal, public safety engineers, water and wastewater workers, personal care services (hair, nails, massage), clergy and staff of houses of worship.

More than 1,600 employers have signed up with the DPH for vaccinations to their frontline workers, by emailing vaccineplanning@delaware.gov. The state pulls from this list to fill select slots at its large-scale events.

The state has vaccinated more than 17,00 workers in the above categories and more will be invited to this weekend’s vaccination clinics.

The move to vaccinate essential workers comes as the state has gone away from its phased system for the vaccine rollout. Most essential workers were in Phase 1B and Phase 1C but the state shifted to its current system before Phase 1C got underway.

Gov. John Carney thinks the shift will help expedite vaccinations to essential workers.

“We think we’ll be able to get it to them faster and we will meet our responsibility to them as frontline essential workers,” Gov. Carney said.

Delaware has administered 385,058 doses of the vaccine as of Monday at 11:59 p.m., according to data in the state’s immunization information system DelVAX.

Gov. Carney said 25% of the state’s population have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, bringing the state’s tally of fully vaccinated individuals to 135,222. Additionally, 72% of seniors have received at least one dose.