(INDIANAPOLIS) — Nearly two-million Hoosiers have gotten at least the first dose of the
coronavirus vaccine. Health officials are working on ways to reach about the same number who
could get the shot, but haven’t.
Marion County health director Virginia Caine says some people are skeptical of the vaccine, but
she says a larger factor is convenience and access. Even with more than 500 vaccination sites,
including 55 in Indy, she says some people either have trouble getting to a clinic or think it’s too
much trouble.
Caine expects the one-and-done Johnson and Johnson vaccine to make a dent in that problem,
attracting people who don’t want to make two appointments for the two-dose Pfizer or Moderna
vaccines.
Indiana health commissioner Kristina Box says the state has been mapping where vaccination
rates are the lowest, and comparing that information against maps of where Indiana’s low-income
residents live. She says many of those communities correspond to low-vaccination areas, with
many rural areas showing up on the list as well.
The state is ramping up efforts to reach as many people as possible before more-infectious virus
mutations take hold in Indiana. A second round of mass vaccinations at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway begins Thursday — the Speedway will host 16 vaccination days in April. Next
Wednesday, the state will launch an eight-week drive-thru vaccination clinic at the former Gary
Roosevelt High School. That site is expected to vaccinate 114,000 people, administering the two-dose Pfizer vaccine the first six weeks and the Johnson and Johnson vaccine the final two weeks.
And a vaccination clinic last Friday at the Lafayette Subaru plant is the first in a series of
workplace clinics to be conducted by large employers.
Box and Caine say they’re increasing outreach as well. For the last mass vaccination in Gary, at
Calumet High School earlier this month, the state texted nearby residents to make sure they
knew about it, and vaccination appointments in Lake County jumped. Box says the state will be
repeating that strategy. IU Health conducted a mobile vaccine clinic in Indy last weekend, and
Marion County plans three more mobile clinics in April. The county will also award $1 million
in grants to community organizations to reach out to underserved populations and answer
questions about the vaccine.
