Indiana COVID-19 Vaccine Eligibilty Expansion Delayed By Winter Storms

Indiana state health officials say cancellations because of the recent snowstorms have caused a delay in expanding eligibility for the COVID-19 vaccine.

More than 5,500 vaccination appointments had to be rescheduled because of severe weather this week. And the winter storm caused delays in vaccine shipments to Indiana.

Dr. Lindsay Weaver, Indiana Department of Health chief medical officer, said that meant the state couldn’t open eligibility to Hoosiers age 60 and older this week.

“We will see how the weather continues to impact our shipments, but hopefully we will be able to expand some time next week,” Weaver said.

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Fortunately, Weaver said the cancellations should not have caused a loss of any of the vaccine.

“The vials would not have been removed from the freezer, so they wouldn’t be unthawed or taken out of the refrigerator, so hopefully there were no wasted doses yesterday,” Weaver said.

Information provided by the state Wednesday says out of 1.3 million vaccine doses Indiana has received so far, just 172 have been wasted.

Contact reporter Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.