INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana has expanded COVID-19 vaccine eligibility, allowing inoculations for anyone age 70 and up.
The move, announced Wednesday by Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, came one week after state officials expanded vaccine eligibility to people age 80 and up.
Eligible people can register for a vaccine at ourshot.in.gov or by calling 211. As of Wednesday morning, the state’s registration website had been updated to reflect the change in age requirements.
Roughly 14.8% of Bartholomew County’s population is now eligible for COVID-19 vaccines, including 3,147 health care workers and 9,443 people ages 70 and up, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
It is not yet known when eligibility will expand to other age groups.
“It is our goal to expand eligibility as quickly as possible,” said Dr. Lindsay Weaver, chief medical officer at the Indiana State Department of Health. “…The demand for vaccines is incredibly high.”
Much like when vaccines opened to people age 80 and up, reports surfaced of overwhelmed phone lines and over an hour-long wait on the state’s registration website and phone system to schedule an appointment.
As of 2:45 p.m. Wednesday afternoon 59,723 people aged 70 and up had made appointments, state health officials said. Nearly 100,000 Hoosiers ages 80 and up have a scheduled appointment over the past weekend.
During a press briefing Wednesday, state health officials urged Hoosiers to be “patient” as they await their turn.
“It’s almost like a gold rush,” Holcomb said.
Nearly one month into the vaccination campaign, just 9.3 million people in the U.S. had gotten their first shot out of about 26.7 million doses distributed as of Wednesday morning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While that is believed to be an undercount because of lags in reporting, health officials are still well behind where they had expected to be, The Associated Press reported.
Experts say as much as 85% of the population may need to be vaccinated to vanquish the outbreak, or roughly 5.72 million people in Indiana and 71,212 in Bartholomew County.
As of Wednesday morning, a total of 219,885 people in Indiana had received their first COVID-19 shot, or roughly 3.2% of the state’s population, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
Additionally, 40,281 people have received their second dose and are considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19, or less than 1% of Hoosiers.
In Bartholomew County, 2,651 people have received their first dose, or nearly 3.2% of the county’s population, and 456 people have received the second dose, or 0.5% of the county’s population, state figures show.
Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia had distributed more vaccines per capita than Indiana as of Tuesday, according to the most recent figures from the CDC.
Indiana had administered 35.5% of the doses it has received, 28th highest out of 50 states and the District of Columbia over the same time period, according to the CDC.
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Here is how to schedule an appointment on a computer for a COVID-19 vaccine:
- Visit ourshot.in.gov.
- Select "Click here to find a vaccination site and register" located near the top of the website with a red background.
- A new page will open. On the right-hand side of the page, select the blue arrow to the right of "Bartholomew."
- A drop down menu will appear, with two options: "Bartholomew County Health Department" and "Columbus Regional Health."
- Select one of the two options by clicking on the location of your choice. Once one option is selected, a small blue box that says "vaccine clinic" will appear on a map of Indiana in the middle of the screen. Click the ">" sign in the blue box.
- A new page opens. Click on "Click here to register" to continue.
- Follow the remaining prompts to confirm eligibility and schedule an appointment.
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