COLUMBUS, Ind. — The Bartholomew County Health Department is making a push to accelerate COVID-19 vaccinations and hopes to inoculate as many as 340 people at an offsite clinic in Columbus this weekend.
The vaccination clinic will be held at Mill Race Center, 900 Lindsey St., from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, by appointment only.
Appointments can only be scheduled through the state’s online COVID-19 vaccination portal, ourshot.in.gov, or by calling 211, said Amanda Organist, director of nursing at the Bartholomew County Health Department.
No walk-in appointments are permitted.
Currently, Hoosiers age 70 and up, as well as health care workers and first responders are eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccinations.
“We had some additional vaccines available from the state and couldn’t get the online schedule adjusted,” Organist said. “…We have a great number of volunteers available for a day so we are utilizing this opportunity to get a larger amount of people through.”
The announcement of the off-site clinic came after the Bartholomew County Health Department received a full-size laboratory freezer it purchased for just over $14,000 in November to store vaccines.
It also comes as two pharmacies in Columbus started offering COVID-19 vaccinations, raising the total number of vaccination sites in Bartholomew County to four.
On Wednesday, Kroger officials said the pharmacy at Kroger Columbus Marketplace, 3060 N. National Road, had started offering appointments for COVID-19 vaccines through its own website, www.kroger.com/rx/guest/get-vaccinated.
Appointments for vaccines at Kroger cannot be scheduled through the state’s online portal. While Kroger is listed on the state’s website as an official vaccination site, once users select Kroger they are redirected to Kroger’s website.
On Tuesday, the Walmart pharmacy located at 735 Whitfield Drive on Columbus’ east side started offering COVID-19 vaccinations. Appointments at Walmart can be scheduled through the state’s web portal or by calling 211.
As of Thursday morning, at least 5,423 Bartholomew County residents had received their first of two COVID-19 shots, or nearly 6.5% of the county’s population, and 1,815 had received their second shot and are considered fully vaccinated, or about 2.2% of the county’s population, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
