State health officials are outlining who’s next in line for the COVID-19 vaccine, and teachers are still not on the list. Indiana Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Lindsay Weaver announced Wednesday that Indiana will stick with its age-based approach, while also incorporating those with certain health conditions.
“As soon as possible, we plan to decrease the age of eligibility to include Hoosiers 60 to 65,” Weaver said during state officials’ COVID-19 press conference. “This group includes approximately 432,000 people. Vaccinating Hoosiers age 60 and older targets a population that accounts for 93 percent of the deaths here in Indiana.”
After that, Weaver says the state will likely move the minimum age down to 55 and then 50, as the supply allows. But younger individuals with certain co-morbidities will also become eligible, specifically, cancer patients, dialysis patients, sickle cell disease patients, certain organ transplant recipients, and people with Down Syndrome.
“We will be working with medical providers who treat these individuals and the associations that serve these people with these conditions to identify the best way to reach out to these individuals directly when they are eligible,” Weaver explained.
Teachers still aren’t specifically mentioned on the list. But State Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box said there are probably a few limited circumstances in which educators would be eligible to get the vaccine, if they serve a medical purpose. “We have many aides that are in the classroom with our special education students, and they do a lot of the sectioning and the close medical-type care and work,” Box explained. “And so, if a particular teacher has that ability in their classroom, they would not necessarily be eligible. However, in some of our smaller schools or more rural schools, they may be doing all of that for that individual student, and under those circumstances, I would most certainly want them to be able to get vaccinated.”
For now, vaccine eligibility remains limited to those 65 and older, health care workers, long-term care residents, and first responders. Dr. Box said health officials want to make sure there’s enough for people to get their second doses, before they expand eligibility.
