Columbus Regional Health has received an additional shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine as the nation looks to expand vaccination efforts against a coronavirus that has killed over 7,300 Hoosiers, including at least 78 in Bartholomew County.
On Wednesday, CRH officials said the hospital system received about 1,025 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine earlier this week and are anticipating a shipment of about 1,000 doses of Moderna Inc.’s vaccine by the end of the week, said CRH spokeswoman Kelsey DeClue.
So far, CRH has received a total of about 2,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and vaccinated about 1,175 health care workers in Bartholomew County and the surrounding area during the first four days of a regional clinic it is operating at a warehouse located on the corner of 17th Street and Keller Avenue.
The first full day of vaccinations was this past Friday, one day after the hospital system received an initial shipment of 975 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
CRH officials said they expect to receive “somewhere around 5,000 vaccines” over the next several weeks.
“The CRH clinic is going well,” DeClue said. “We currently immunize between 200 to 300 people a day and have remained on track.”
Currently, COVID-19 vaccines are being prioritized for front-line health care workers who provide direct patient care and are at high risk of exposure to COVID-19, state health officials said earlier this week.
There likely won’t be enough vaccines for the general public until at least the spring.
Indiana is in the first of three phases of vaccine distribution.
The first phase includes health care workers who have direct or indirect exposure to patients or infectious material, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
That includes, but is not limited to workers at hospitals, long-term care facilities, outpatient facilities, home health care settings, pharmacies, dialysis centers, emergency medical services, front-line public health interventions and COVID-19 diagnostic and immunization teams.
Pharmacy chains, including CVS and Walgreens, also are involved in the initial rollout and vaccinations at nursing homes and assisted living centers, which are also part of the first phase.
“Locally, we anticipate the state will send out a scheduling link to broader licensed healthcare personnel on Dec. 28,” DeClue said. “This will include dentists, optometrists, therapists, etc. and anyone in those types of practices that has direct contact with patients or with infectious material.”
More than 50 hospitals in Indiana received 55,575 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine last week, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
As of Tuesday morning, more than 40,000 health care workers in Indiana had been vaccinated, said Dr. Lindsay Weaver, chief medical officer at the Indiana State Department of Health.
State officials expect that number to increase to 44,000 by the end of Wednesday and 91,000 by Jan. 4.
However, that still would not be enough to vaccinate one-fourth of the more than 400,000 eligible health care workers in Indiana.
There are an estimated 3,147 eligible health care workers in Bartholomew County, according to state figures.
Last week, about 556,000 people in the U.S. received COVID-19 vaccinations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The U.S. hopes for enough vaccines for 20 million people by the end of the month.
