Hoosiers age 45 and older now eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccine

FILE - In this Monday, July 27, 2020, file photo, Nurse Kathe Olmstead, right, gives volunteer Melissa Harting, of Harpursville, N.Y., an injection of a possible COVID-19 vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., in Binghamton, N.Y. The U.S. is poised to give the green light as early as Friday, Dec. 18, to a second COVID-19 vaccine, a critical new weapon against the surging coronavirus. Doses of the vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. and the National Institutes of Health will give a much-needed boost to supplies as the biggest vaccination effort in the nation’s history continues.(AP Photo/Hans Pennink, File) The Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Department of Health announced today that Hoosiers age 45 and older are now eligible to receive a free COVID-19 vaccine. This expansion of eligibility makes the vaccine available to an additional 415,640 Hoosiers.

Additional groups will be added as more vaccine becomes available.

Vaccine appointments for this newly eligible population will be available over the next several weeks to align with expected vaccine deliveries to the state. Individuals seeking an earlier appointment are encouraged to look at openings in surrounding counties.

To schedule a vaccine, visit https://ourshot.in.gov and select a location from one of more than 400 clinics around the state. Hoosiers who do not have a computer or cell phone or those who need assistance scheduling an appointment can call 211 or contact one of Indiana’s Area Agencies on Aging or AARP. Nearly 70 libraries around the state also are helping Hoosiers schedule their appointments.

Vaccination clinics that are part of the federal vaccine program, including those at Meijer and Kroger, appear on the clinic map at https://ourshot.in.gov but are scheduled through those retailers’ platforms, not through the state centralized system.