The Indiana State Department of Health is getting ready for a COVID-19 vaccine. State Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box says state health officials are scheduled to meet with the CDC today to discuss the official rollout.
“We have a team of research experts and physicians, infectious disease experts, ethicists that will be looking at all of this,” Box said during Wednesday’s COVID-19 briefing. “And they’re helping us to plan the distribution of the vaccine, who should get the vaccine first. They’ll be reviewing all the data that comes out with regards to each one of these vaccines, not only to make sure that we feel that that is safe, but also, to make sure that we administer the vaccine according to the vaccine’s recommendations.”
Box said the National Institutes of Science has released a set of recommendations for who should get the vaccine first. “We understand that there’ll probably be somewhere between 10 to 15 million doses to begin with out of 330 million individuals in the U.S.,” Box said. “So that amounts to just under five percent.”
Box also addressed fears that a vaccine may be rushed out, expressing confidence in drug makers’ and the FDA’s desire to make sure they’re safe. “I want you to know that the pharmaceutical companies that are engaged in producing these vaccines are committed to not rolling out a vaccine until they have fully vetted that vaccine, and that the FDA is also committed to making sure that we stick very closely, as are these pharmaceutical companies, to the highest standards for ethics and the highest standards for scientific principles in developing these vaccines.” She said the state expects to submit an official vaccination plan in the next month.
As for when Governor Holcomb might be getting a vaccine, he said he’ll follow the advice of medical professionals. Dr. Box added that she and the governor probably wouldn’t qualify for the initial round, based on current recommendations.
