INDIANAPOLIS — State health officials are anticipating that Indiana will receive additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the coming weeks, but it is not yet clear how many additional doses, if any, will make their way to Bartholomew County.
Starting next week, the federal government plans to distribute 1 million doses to about 6,500 pharmacies across the country. The administration is also boosting by 500,000 the weekly allocation of vaccines sent directly to states for the coming weeks.
Currently, Indiana is receiving about 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines per week and anticipates that select pharmacies in the state will receive a combined 20,000 additional COVID-19 vaccines per week, said Dr. Kristina Box, Indiana state health commissioner, during a news briefing on Wednesday.
It is unclear how many of the additional 500,000 doses of vaccine sent directly to the states will be earmarked for Indiana or Bartholomew County.
Indiana makes up about 2% of the overall U.S. population. If the 500,000 doses are distributed evenly among all 50 states, Indiana could expect to receive about 10,250 additional doses per week, on top of the 20,000 that will be sent directly to pharmacies.
Bartholomew County represents about 1.2% of the overall state population. If state health officials divvy up vaccines proportionally by county population, that would mean that Bartholomew County might expect to receive about 127 additional doses per week out of the 500,000 doses nationwide.
Even with the extra doses coming, Box said Indiana is far from having enough vaccines to vaccinate everyone who is eligible, but is “moving in the right direction.”
“We’re up to right around 100,000 doses now, which is good, and we’ll make very good use of that,” Box said. “But it still doesn’t come close to the amount of vaccine we need.”
The push by the Biden administration comes amid new urgency to speed vaccinations to prevent the spread of potentially more serious strains of the virus that has killed more than 449,400 people in the United States, according to wire reports.
It also comes as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease expert, called on Americans to get vaccinated as soon as they’re eligible to prevent further mutations of the virus.
“Viruses cannot mutate if they don’t replicate,” Fauci told the AP. “And if you stop their replication by vaccinating widely and not giving the virus an open playing field to continue to respond to the pressures that you put on it, you will not get mutations.”
The number of participating pharmacies and the allocation of vaccines are expected to accelerate as drug makers increase production. The White House said the ultimate goal was to distribute the vaccines through more than 40,000 pharmacies nationwide. State and local guidelines will determine who is eligible to get a shot at their neighborhood pharmacy. Availability will be limited at first.
Locally, Columbus Regional Health and the Bartholomew County Health Department said earlier this week that their weekly allotments of vaccine had remained unchanged.
CRH is receiving about 1,200 to 1,500 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine per week, said CRH spokeswoman Kelsey DeClue. The Bartholomew County Health Department is receiving about 600 doses of the Moderna vaccine each week, said Amanda Organist, the department’s director of nursing.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Kroger pharmacy in Columbus was receiving about 100 doses of the Moderna vaccine each week from the Indiana State Department of Health, said Kroger spokesman Eric Halverson.
However, Kroger is expecting to start receiving its vaccine supply from the federal government “very soon,” but that likely wouldn’t change how many doses are allotted to the Kroger in Columbus, Halverson said.
“We expect the federal government to be the provider very soon, probably at the same number per store based on the current distribution plan,” Halverson told The Republic.
Walmart spokeswoman Rebecca Thomason said the retail giant was receiving its supply of COVID-19 vaccines directly from the Indiana State Department of Health as of Tuesday, but referred questions about how many doses its location at 735 Whitfield Drive on Columbus’ east side is receiving each week to the Indiana State Department of Health.
The Indiana State Department of Health did not respond to requests for information on how many doses the local Walmart is receiving.
Walgreens will be providing limited COVID-19 vaccinations in 15 states and other jurisdictions, but “Indiana is not on the initial list assigned to Walgreens,” spokeswoman Emily Delnicki told The Republic.
CVS said it will receive 250,000 doses initially, to be distributed to pharmacies in 11 states. CVS did not respond to requests for information on how many doses, if any, would be distributed at its locations in Columbus.
On Monday, Indiana State Department of Health expanded eligibility for COVID-19 vaccinations to Hoosiers age 65 and up and more than 144,000 people in that age group signed up within the first 48 hours, Box said.
Shortly after 10:45 a.m. Wednesday, Kroger’s clinic in Columbus was booked out to this coming Wednesday, according to its vaccine registration website. The next available vaccination appointment at CRH’s clinic was Feb. 26, and the next open slot with the Bartholomew County Health Department was March 2, according to the state’s online COVID-19 vaccination portal.
Walmart was listed as fully booked and was not accepting additional appointments as of Wednesday morning.
As of 5 a.m. Tuesday, at least 7,430 Bartholomew County residents had received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, or about 8.9% of the county’s population, and 2,062 had received their second dose and were considered fully vaccinated, or 2.5% of the county’s population, according to the most recent data from the Indiana State Department of Health.
But that is just a fraction of the 70% to 85% of the overall population that health officials, including Fauci, say will need to be vaccinated to achieve “herd immunity” and vanquish the outbreak.
If the current pace over the first 47 days of vaccinations continues, it would take over a year for at least 70% of Bartholomew County residents to get their first COVID-19 shot.
However, the weekly total of Bartholomew County residents receiving COVID-19 vaccinations has increased for three consecutive weeks, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
A total of 1,927 Bartholomew County residents received their first COVID-19 shot from Jan. 26 to Feb. 1, up from 1,233 from Jan. 12 to 18 and 834 from Jan. 5 to 11, state records show.
If the most recent weekly pace were to continue, 70% of the county’s population would receive their first vaccine dose, in theory, by around Aug. 10 and 85% by around Sept. 21.
The pace could further increase if federal regulators authorize additional vaccines for emergency use, including one developed by Johnson & Johnson and another by AstraZeneca.
However, state health officials said it will likely be many months before the state vaccinates enough people to achieve herd immunity.
“We will not achieve herd immunity for many months and the new variants of the virus that are emerging will require us to remain vigilant about masking and social distancing, staying home if you’re ill and getting tested and then following guidelines for isolation and quarantine,” Box said.
During Wednesday’s press conference, state officials pushed back against questioning as to why teachers were not being moved up in line to receive the vaccination as the state continues to use the age-related criteria along with adding exceptions for those with serious health conditions and the homebound.
All four states that border Indiana — Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio — are vaccinating teachers. In fact, 27 states are vaccinating teachers, and all but six have a timeline for when teachers will be vaccinated, according to Education Week.
During his weekly news conference Wednesday, Gov. Eric Holcomb said the state would continue to focus on ensuring older Hoosiers are protected from COVID-19, regardless of occupation. He did not specify when teachers younger than 65 years old could expect to be vaccinated.
“We’re looking at folks most at risk of dying and/or being hospitalized,” Holcomb said. “About 94% of our deaths come from 22% of cases — that being 60 and older. It’s about managing the spread but trying to really slow the deaths and hospitalization rate.”
Just because most teachers aren’t eligible to be vaccinated doesn’t mean they aren’t valued, Holcomb said.
“I disagree with the premise that I don’t value them. I have talked to teachers as well who appreciate that we are taking care of their grandmother or grandfather,” Holcomb said.
“They are OK with us focusing on those most at-risk. I value every single life in this state, regardless of your profession.”
