Indiana lowers COVID-19 shot eligibility to ages 60-64; nearly 91,000 register on first day

The Evening News and the Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind.
·2 min read

Feb. 23—INDIANAPOLIS — Nearly 91,000 Hoosiers ages 60-64 scheduled free COVID-19 vaccines in the first eight hours of their eligibility, the Indiana Department of Health reported Tuesday.

To date, nearly 32 percent of Indiana residents ages 60-64 have scheduled an appointment or have been vaccinated when healthcare workers and first responders, who were already eligible, are included.

Currently, 905,236 Hoosiers have received a first dose of vaccine, and 459,603 are fully vaccinated. To schedule a vaccine appointment, visit https://ourshot.in.gov or call 211 if you do not have access to a computer or require assistance. Additional locations and appointments are being added as more vaccine becomes available.

Effective immediately, only individuals who live in Indiana and meet the eligibility criteria can receive a vaccine at an Indiana clinic. This will ensure that doses allocated to Indiana go to Hoosiers. All clinics have been reminded to verify eligibility prior to administering a vaccine.

Out-of-state residents who received their first dose in Indiana can still receive their second dose at the same clinic.

The Indiana Department of Health will host 10 vaccine clinics for eligible Hoosiers around the state — including in Scott County at Mid-America Science Park, 821 S. Lake Rd. South, Scottsburg — from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday this week.

The clinics are being added to areas where there are currently no open vaccine appointments.

Individuals must register in advance at https://ourshot.in.gov. No walk-ups will be allowed.

Also Tuesday, the health department reported that 716 additional Hoosiers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 through testing at state and private laboratories. That brings to 657,037 the number of Indiana residents now known to have had the novel coronavirus following corrections to the previous days dashboard.

Twenty additional COVID-19 cases in Clark County brought its total to 11,843 cases; 179 deaths have been reported.

Deaths in Floyd County increased by one for a total of 164. Overall cases reached 7,139 with the addition of three newly diagnosed.

A total of 12,025 Hoosiers are confirmed to have died from COVID-19, an increase of 44 from the previous day. Another 425 probable deaths have been reported based on clinical diagnoses in patients for whom no positive test is on record.

To date, 3,088,729unique individuals have been tested in Indiana, up from 3,085,554on Monday. A total of 7,815,751 tests, including repeat tests for unique individuals, have been reported to the state Department of Health since Feb. 26, 2020.

The seven-day positivity rate for unique individuals was 10.9% statewide, compared with 12.0% in Floyd County and 14.9% in Clark County.

To find testing sites around the state, visit www.coronavirus.in.gov and click on the COVID-19 testing information link.