State health officials are making sure they’re ready for a COVID-19 vaccine to arrive in mid-November, but whether it will actually get here by then remains to be seen. During Wednesday’s COVID-19 briefing, Indiana Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Lindsay Weaver said the state’s been asking hospital systems to help identify potential distribution sites.
“We are working in collaboration with [the Indiana Hospital Association] to confirm that these sites will be able to store and administer this initial vaccine, which is complicated, not only by the fact that it’s ultra-low storage requirements but also the limited time between thawing and administration of a two-dose vaccine that also needs to be reconstituted or mixed at the time of administration,” Weaver explained.
Distribution would start at five sites spread around the state and would eventually expand once the vaccine becomes more widely available. Weaver said the first people to get the vaccine will be frontline health care workers who come into regular contact with COVID-19 patients.
Even then, it’s still unclear when the vaccine will be ready. Weaver said it won’t be administered until the CDC issues its recommendations. The state has also assembled a team of 44 experts representing 26 different entities to evaluate the vaccine.
State Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box said there are still a lot of uncertainties. “We don’t know for certain when we’ll receive our first vaccine or when we’ll have enough vaccine to immunize every Hoosier who wants the COVID vaccine,” she noted. “We also have a rigorous review process in place where the state will look at the vaccine before it’s deployed for use. We also don’t know how effective these different vaccines will be and how much protection they will provide. We don’t know how many Hoosiers will want these initial vaccines.”
But Box said that social distancing, wearing a mask, and careful hand hygiene are proven and inexpensive ways to reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
