First doses of COVID-19 vaccine in Indiana administered in Fort Wayne

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WISH) — Some of the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine to arrive in Indiana were administered Monday to frontline health care workers in Fort Wayne, the Indiana State Department of Health said.

Those first doses went to a physician, a nurse, a respiratory therapist, a pharmacist, a patient care technician and an environmental services technician just after noon at Parkview Health. Clark Memorial Hospital in Jeffersonville also received initial doses of the vaccine on Monday.

Three additional hospitals — including IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis — are among the five locations slated to get vaccine doses first in the state.

More than 50 hospitals and clinics around Indiana are expected to receive vaccines as part of the 55,575 doses heading to the state in the first allotment.

According to ISDH, more than 20,000 Indiana health care workers have registered to get their first dose. The vaccine requires two doses, administered 21-28 days apart.

The first vaccine doses available in the state will go to frontline health care workers who provide direct patient care and long-term care residents and staff impacted by the pandemic, ISDH said Monday.

As more shipments are received, additional groups will be eligible for the vaccine, Dr. Lindsay Weaver, ISDH’s chief medical officer, said Monday.