State health officials on Monday made COVID-19 vaccines available to teachers and support staff in Indiana.
On Monday, Indiana teachers and staff in pre-K through high school, childcare centers, Head Start and Early Start programs, along with licensed childcare providers, including center-based and family care providers became eligible for COVID-19 vaccines.
Classroom aides, bus drivers, janitors, counselors, administration staff, cafeteria workers and substitute teachers also are eligible.
Additionally, Hoosiers age 50 and up, as well as healthcare workers and first responders, are eligible for vaccines.
Vaccination appointments can be scheduled on the state’s online portal, ourshot.in.gov, or by calling 211.
Last week, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said the state would expand vaccine eligibility to teachers and support staff after President Joe Biden directed pharmacies in the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program to make teachers eligible for vaccines.
Holcomb had resisted calls for weeks to prioritize teachers for vaccines as at least 27 other states had done, including Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio. Indiana has largely based vaccine eligibility on age.
Holcomb said last week that the move “wasn’t a 180 on our part.”
“(The White House) made it available through the federal pharmacy program, but they have since directed, required states to prioritize teachers,” Holcomb said during a press briefing Wednesday. “The administration, our federal partners, have said you need to add in (teachers) to any (vaccination) site, and so we will do that.”
Last month, state health officials in Indiana said they would crack down on COVID-19 vaccination sites that had allowed teachers and others to jump the line and get vaccinated before they were eligible.
By mid-afternoon, the first day that teachers and support staff being eligible did not result in mass numbers of vaccination appointments being scheduled in Bartholomew County, though it not clear the extent to which spring break may have affected how many people signed up.
Shortly after 10:25 a.m. Monday, there were same-day COVID-19 vaccination appointments available at Kroger in Columbus, according to the supermarket chain’s online vaccination portal.
The next available appointment slot was March 27 at Columbus Regional Health’s clinic, followed by March 29 at the Walmart pharmacy located on the west side of the city, March 31 at the Bartholomew County Health Department and April 5 at Sam’s Club, according to the state’s online vaccination portal.
Not much had changed as of 2:15 p.m.
There were still appointments as early as 3:15 p.m. Monday at Kroger and Walmart’s March 29 slots had been filled up, making March 30 the next available openings there.
Nearly 1 in 5 Bartholomew County residents had received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine as of Monday morning, according to the Indiana State Department of Health.
Additionally, nearly 1 in 8 county residents were fully vaccinated, including 298 who have received the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, state records show.
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Vaccination appointments can be scheduled on the state’s online portal, ourshot.in.gov, or by calling 211.
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