State Says 91,000 Hoosiers Should Get Initial COVID-19 Vaccine Shot By Jan. 4

About 40,000 Hoosiers will have received the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by the end of Tuesday.

But state officials say it will remain a “scarce resource” for a long time.

Dr. Lindsay Weaver, Indiana Department of Health chief medical officer, said because initial supplies are so limited, the state’s focus will remain on vaccinating health care workers and long-term care residents – likely through most of January.

“And then we expect that after we get through these couple of holidays, we’ll have a regular cadence of orders," Weaver said. "And as we get more information, as we always have been, we’ll be very transparent with what we are expecting to receive and when we receive it.”

READ MORE: How Will Indiana Distribute COVID-19 Vaccines? Here's What You Need To Know

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Weaver said the state anticipates getting about 91,000 Hoosiers their first shot of the vaccine by Jan. 4.

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) defended recently getting a COVID-19 vaccine shot ahead of health care workers and at-risk Americans. Young said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines direct vaccinations for continuity of government.

"We need to ... persuade those roughly one-third of Hoosiers who do not believe in the safety and efficacy of this vaccine that it is, indeed, safe and efficacious as our [Food and Drug Administration] has indicated," Young said.

Gov. Eric Holcomb said he will get the vaccine when Indiana health officials indicate it's appropriate for him to do so, which he said could be months.

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