Hoosiers 60 and older can now make COVID-19 vaccine appointments
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – More people in the state of Indiana are now eligible to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
On Tuesday, the Indiana State Department of Health lowered the age of eligibility to those 60 and older. In addition, health care workers and first responders in Indiana also can make vaccine appointments.
Even as the state expands the availability of the vaccine, people 60 and older were being told Tuesday that it could take a month to get an appointment. Dr. Ram Yeleti of Community Health Network says the demand is high and the hospitals are prepared, but supply is struggling.
“We definitely have the capacity to do more, double the amount of vaccinations per day, so we could definitely use more (vaccine). It is probably just a matter of ramping up, but the supply is not where we want to be just yet,” Yeleti said.
Indiana has nearly 1 million residents who are 50 or older. The Indiana State Department of Health has been expanding the availability of the vaccine to general public in five-year increments.
Thomas Duszynski of the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health says the state likely will not expand vaccine availability to people in their 50s for a few weeks or longer.
“The challenge becomes I’m not sure the state knows at this point because it is all dependent upon the vaccine allocation that they get. Be it every week or once a month, we don’t know what that is, and I’m not sure they know what yet,. The states have been promised more vaccine. I know more is coming,” Duszynski said.
Even if the state expands the vaccine in mid-March to Hoosiers 55 and older, they could wait for appointments until mid-April.
Yeleti said Tuesday he expected two months into the vaccination process that the state would be in better shape. “I thought by now we would really be in a better position. I think we will be there, but I wish we were at this point, especially with the variants coming up in March potentially that supply is critical to us right now.”
The Community Health doctor said he expects the approval of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the next couple of weeks. The single-dose vaccine will help speed up the process. By summer, he said, he expects wait times to drastically decrease as the supply catches up with demand.
There are waiting lists for the vaccinations managed by individual health care facilities.
As of Tuesday, 459,603 Hoosiers have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the state.
Indiana State Department of Health reported Tuesday that 12,025 have died from COVID-19.
Statements
“Vaccine supplies are limited nationally. As Governor Holcomb and Dr. Box have said, the ability to expand vaccine eligibility is limited by the lack of available vaccine. We cannot predict when additional vaccine will become available, but when it does, we will expand eligibility. As soon as supplies permit, our plan is to expand in age increments down to age 50 and to people with specific conditions that put them at higher risk of hospitalization or death, including sickle cell disease, solid organ transplants, active dialysis, active cancer treatment or Down syndrome. “
The Indiana State Department of Health
“We ask every clinic to keep a standby list of people who meet current eligibility requirements so that every dose can be administered. Currently, healthcare workers, first responders and Hoosier’s age 60 and older are eligible to receive vaccine.“
The Indiana State Department of Health