TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb held his weekly COVID-19 briefing on Thursday. In the briefing, state leaders focused on moving forward in an effort to get more Hoosiers vaccinated.
As of Thursday, more than 362,000 Hoosiers have received their first dose of the vaccine. Health officials shared some good news: The COVID-19 positivity rate is decreasing. Indiana is down to 10.8% which is the lowest the state has seen in weeks.
Indiana is nearly booked with vaccination appointments through the end of January. Remember, appointment availability is based on the limited supply of the vaccine that Indiana has in stock.
Right now, the state isn’t able to predict when eligibility will expand. The state learns its allotment of the vaccine every Tuesday.
We do know that the state is changing the age range of the next group that’s eligible to start making COVID-19 vaccine appointments. It will be open to Hoosiers ages 65 to 70. Originally, the next group was going to include all Hoosiers 60 and older. That population accounts for 93% of COVID-19 deaths in Indiana. However, leaders decided to break that group down into smaller groups because the vaccine supply is so unpredictable.
Also, it’s important to point out that Indiana State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box says that three Hoosiers have died “some time” after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
“These losses are tragic and my heart goes out to the families of these Hoosiers,” Dr. Box said, “At this time, there is no way to know if the vaccine played a role in these three deaths because these individuals already had health conditions that would have impacted their life expectancy significantly.”