INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana health officials will soon expand coronavirus vaccines to Hoosiers aged 60 to 65 as they continue to sidestep federal recommendations for vaccine rollout and delay the timeline for teachers and other essential workers to become eligible for COVID-19 shots.
The decrease in the age of eligibility will happen “as soon as possible,” once vaccine becomes available, the state health department’s chief medical officer Dr. Lindsay Weaver announced Wednesday.
Hoosiers aged 50 to 59, as well as those under age 50 who suffer from certain comorbidities, will be on deck, Weaver said, although there are no specific timelines in place for when new eligibility expansions will take effect.
“After we reach age 60, when we have enough vaccine and have vaccinated an appropriate portion of the 60 to 65 age group, we will then incrementally expand eligibility,” Weaver said, noting it will take time to vaccine the group that includes some 432,000 people.
Dr. Kristina Box, the state health commissioner, said Indiana is currently receiving about 100,000 doses of vaccine each week. Because that supply “remains limited,” the current eligibility hierarchy for those aged 65 and up will continue at least through this week, she continued.
“This way, we can fully analyze the number of second dose appointments against our existing and our projected inventory,” Box said. “Our goal is to ensure that we have all of these second doses covered before expanding further.”
Indiana officials have based shot eligibility on age rather than moving up teachers and other essential workers as other states have done. They cite statistics that those ages 60 and older represent 93% of Indiana’s COVID-19 deaths and 64% of hospitalizations, arguing that vaccinating those people will have the biggest impact.
Looking ahead at the 50 and older population, the state’s top health officials maintained the age group makes up just over 35% of Indiana’s population, but accounts for 80% of COVID-19 hospitalizations and 97.6% of deaths.
For more on this story, see Thursday’s Republic.
