About 13 percent of Indiana’s population is now fully vaccinated against COVID-19. But health officials say the state is getting fewer doses per resident than many others.
“In at least one report, Indiana was fifth from the bottom in doses delivered per 100,000 residents last week,” State Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box said during Wednesday’s press conference. “Yesterday, Indiana was 35th in doses delivered per 100,000 residents. Our state is 17th in population. Indiana appears to be receiving thousands of doses per 100,000 residents less than some other states, according to information that we monitor on the CDC website.”
Box said she’s been raising this issue during phone calls with federal officials. She said the gap seems to be widening, possibly due to the placement of larger FEMA sites. “Originally, we kind of thought that vaccine was going to come out of the states’ vaccine allocation, but that appears to be a separate allocation to the states,” Box explained. “So that is, I think, where we’re seeing the gap, and there are other states that have noticed a similar issue.”
But Box expects a significant uptick in vaccine supply around the last week of March. Governor Eric Holcomb plans to detail the next phases of the vaccine rollout during a statewide address next Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. EDT.
