December 21, 2021

Holcomb encourages vaccines amid omicron news, not planning extra restrictions

Mitch Legan

Gov. Eric Holcomb is encouraging Hoosiers to get vaccinated amid reports COVID-19’s highly contagious omicron variant has been detected in Indiana.

READ MORE: Indiana reports first omicron case, COVID-19 hospital census surpasses 3,000

This comes as a surge of the delta variant is rocking hospitals across the state. Unvaccinated Hoosiers are filling ICUs to the point the National Guard has been called in to help at least 20 hospitals.

But Holcomb isn’t considering extra restrictions heading into Christmas and the new year.

“The difference between this year and a year ago is we have vaccines available, and we know by far the number of folks that are ending up stressing our hospital network are unvaccinated,” Holcomb said. “So I would encourage folks to get vaccinated. It doesn't just help yourself. It helps the whole system.”

A recent analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that from June to September of this year, only 15 percent of COVID hospitalizations occurred in people who are fully vaccinated, with age being a significant factor.

Tags:omicroncovid vaccineCOVID-19
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