INDIANAPOLIS — Tens of thousands of Hoosiers registered for COVID-19 vaccinations Wednesday morning after state health officials expanded eligibility to all residents age 16 and up and reported increased vaccine allocations from the federal government.
A total of 21,000 Indiana residents scheduled COVID-19 vaccine appointments within 30 minutes after eligibility was expanded eligibility Wednesday morning, said Dr. Kristina Box, the state health commissioner. By noon, that number had climbed to 96,000.
On Monday, 79,000 Hoosiers ages 30 to 39 registered for COVID-19 vaccine appointments, the first day they were eligible, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
Appointments at seven local vaccination sites can be scheduled online at ourshot.in.gov or by calling 211, including a mass vaccination clinic April 10 at the Bartholomew County 4-H Fairgrounds.
Locally, Columbus Regional Health reported an uptick in people signing up for vaccine appointments on Wednesday, said spokeswoman Kelsey DeClue.
“Especially today with that 16-plus crowd, we are starting to see some longer appointment times out” DeClue said.
Shortly after 3 p.m. Wednesday, the earliest available appointment in Bartholomew County was April 13 at the Bartholomew County Health Department and the Walmart located at 735 Whitfield Drive, April 29 at Columbus Regional Health and the Walmart located at 2025 Merchant Mile and April 30 at Sam’s Club on Columbus’ west side. No appointments were available at Kroger, 3060 N. National Road.
As of Wednesday morning, CRH had administered 26,310 doses of COVID-19 vaccines, including 15,201 first doses and 11,109 second doses, DeClue said.
The expanded eligibility came a day after state health officials were told by federal officials that they could expect to receive more than 405,000 doses of vaccines this week, including 96,500 doses of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
It also came just days after CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said that it is “absolutely” too soon to lift mask mandates and warned of “impending doom” from a fourth wave of COVID-19 if mask mandates and other measures are relaxed.
Last week, Bartholomew County health officials said they are strongly encouraging people to continue wearing masks after Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb’s statewide mask mandate expires on April 6, but won’t be requiring people to do so.
However, that could change if the state’s metrics trend in the wrong direction, said Dr. Brian Niedbalski, Bartholomew County health officer.
“I have chosen to avoid the wording ‘mandate’ while continuing to stress the importance of mask wearing,” Niedbalski said. “Not having a mandate in place statewide makes it much more difficult to continue it at our local level. I also want to avoid businesses having potential confrontations with individuals who refuse to wear masks in public spaces. I will add that I am encouraged by the fact that most people I have spoken to are planning to continue to wear masks when necessary. If we see numbers starting to rise significantly in Indiana, then a mandate may need to be reconsidered again.”
As state and local health officials work to expand vaccination efforts, there is increasing concern about the spread of coronavirus variants that are more contagious and possibly more deadly across much of the country, including Indiana.
As of Wednesday, 137 cases of the U.K. variant, two cases of the South African variant and one case of the Brazil variant had been detected in Indiana, Box said.
Evidence is mounting that having survived a COVID-19 infection may not protect against getting infected again with some of the new variants, The Associated Press reported.
How long immunity lasts from natural infection is one of the big questions in the pandemic, according to wire reports. Scientists still think reinfections are fairly rare and usually less serious than initial ones, but recent developments around the world have raised concerns.
In South Africa, a vaccine study found new infections with a variant in 2% of people who previously had an earlier version of the virus, according to wire reports.
In Brazil, several similar cases were documented with a new variant there. Researchers are exploring whether reinfections help explain a recent surge in the city of Manaus, where three-fourths of residents were thought to have been previously infected, according to the AP.
“Previous infection does not give you a free pass,” Dr. Stuart Sealfon of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, told the AP. “A substantial risk of reinfection remains.”
–The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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COVID-19 vaccination appointments can be scheduled online at ourshot.in.gov or by calling 211.
Parents or guardians who wish to register someone ages 16 or 17 should make sure the vaccine site they select has the Pfizer vaccine, as it is the only vaccine authorized for use in people age 16 and up, health officials said.
The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccine are authorized for people age 18 and up.
Locally, Columbus Regional Health is the only site offering the Pfizer vaccine.
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