COLUMBUS, Ind. — A Columbus-area Walmart will start offering limited COVID-19 vaccinations today, becoming the third vaccination site in Bartholomew County, according to the state’s online COVID-19 vaccine registration portal.
The Walmart pharmacy located at 735 Whitfield Drive on Columbus’ east side is listed as a COVID-19 vaccination site on the state’s vaccine registration website and has started accepting a limited number of appointments for COVID-19 vaccinations.
Appointments can only be made via ourshot.in.gov or by calling 211. No walk-in appointments are allowed, said Walmart spokeswoman Rebecca Thomason.
As of 11:30 a.m. Monday morning, there were at least 35 available vaccine appointments at Walmart through Saturday, the state’s vaccine registration website shows. Shortly after 2:30 p.m., there were still 23 open slots.
Walmart will be administering Moderna Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine, Thomason said.
“Once a person has an appointment … they’ll get the vaccine inside (the store) in our pharmacy,” Thomason said.
The confirmation that Walmart will start vaccinations in Columbus comes three days after the Arkansas-based retail giant told Reuters that it planned to expand inoculations to select pharmacies in seven states this week, including Indiana.
It also comes as federal officials scramble to accelerate the slower-than-expected start to the largest vaccination effort in U.S. history.
At full capacity, Walmart expects to be able to administer 10 to 13 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines per month “when supply and allocations allow,” the company said in a statement.
The local Walmart is one of 10 Walmart locations in Indiana that are listed as COVID-19 vaccination sites on the state’s vaccine portal. The other locations include Walmart pharmacies in Delaware, Hamilton, Henry, Johnson, Kosciusko, LaPorte, St. Joseph, Tippecanoe and Vigo counties.
Currently, anyone in Indiana age 70 or older, as well as health care workers and first responders, are eligible to schedule appointments to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Earlier this month, state health officials announced plans to vaccinate Hoosiers by age group, starting with the elderly, who are more likely to develop severe illness or die from COVID-19 infections.
The next eligible age group is expected to be Hoosiers age 65 to 69, though it is not yet known when people in that age group will be able to schedule appointments.
Local health officials have said they are seeking more vaccines from state officials, who say they are awaiting more shipments from the federal government.
As of 5 a.m. Monday morning, 440,822 people in Indiana had received their first of two COVID-19 shots, or about 6.5% of the state’s population, and 100,019 have received their second shot and are considered to be fully vaccinated, or nearly 1.5% of the state’s population, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
At least 4,924 Bartholomew County residents have received their first COVID-19 shot, or nearly 5.9% of the county’s population, and 1,425 have received their second shot and are considered to be fully vaccinated, or about 1.7% of the county’s population, according to state health department.
Columbus Regional Health had administered 7,482 vaccines at a clinic it is operating in Columbus near the hospital campus as of Thursday, hospital officials said.
The Bartholomew County Health Department administered 274 COVID-19 vaccines from Tuesday to Thursday last week, said Amanda Organist, the department’s director of nursing.
