(INDIANAPOLIS) — The state health department is cutting off the vaccine supply to some clinics
for ignoring Indiana’s eligibility rules.
So far, Indiana is only vaccinating people over 60, health care workers, and first responders.
Health commissioner Kris Box says some misunderstandings about who’s eligible have been fixed
with a phone call, but says some clinics have gone “way outside the guidelines.” Those clinics
will receive enough vaccine to administer second doses to patients who have already gotten the
first, but that’s it. She says the Indiana State Department of Health will redirect the rest of their
doses to nearby vaccine sites so entire counties aren’t penalized.
Box isn’t saying where those clinics are or how many, but says it’s been rare.
The health department has prioritized people at highest risk if they catch the virus. The
vaccinations began with health care workers, first responders, and people over 80. The department
has lowered the age threshold by five or 10 years at a time, with vaccinations opened on Tuesday
to people from 60 to 64. Box says with the supply of vaccine still limited, people at highest risk
come first, and The says it’s not fair to people at high risk who have been waiting their turn for
clinics to let other patients jump the line.
The state will expand eligibility again this week, with dialysis centers reaching out to 10,000
patients. Health department chief medical officer Lindsay Weaver says a small number of other
health conditions will follow soon: transplant recipients, people with sickle-cell anemia or Down’s
syndrome, people who have undergone cancer treatment in the last three months, and people with
lung cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, or multiple myeloma.
But the state will end vaccinations of out-of-state residents who work in Indiana. Weaver says those people were eligible as part of the drive to quickly vaccinate health care workers, but says that need has been addressed.
Weaver says more than three out of five Hoosiers over 65 have either been received their first dose
or have scheduled their appointments. Nearly two out of five between 60 and 64 have gotten shots
or appointments in the first two days of eligibility.
Indiana’s vaccine supply was reduced last week when the winter storm prevented delivery of the
week’s shipment of Moderna vaccine. Those doses plus the regular weekly allocation mean 237,000 doses arriving in Indiana this week, with another 267,000 next week. And Box says
the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could arrive as early as next week if the FDA approves it as
expected.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine’s success rate isn’t as high as that of the Moderna and Pfizer
vaccines, but Weaver says it’s still “amazingly effective,” especially in preventing serious cases.
And unlike the two already-approved vaccines, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires only one
shot, not two.
