INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Hospital officials across central Indiana are prepared to receive and administer COVID-19 vaccine shots, and anticipate federal approval of at least one vaccine candidate within weeks, they said Tuesday.
Indiana University Health, the state’s largest health care system, purchased nearly a dozen cold storage units that could help facilitate the distribution of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine.
Phase 3 trial data shows the vaccine is 95% effective at preventing infection, according to the company.
Pfizer submitted a request Friday to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization. The agency’s Vaccine Advisory Committee is scheduled to review the application during a Dec. 10 meeting.
If approved, doses of the vaccine could be delivered to Indiana within “just a few days” of the meeting, said Dr. Chris Weaver, senior vice president of clinical effectiveness for IU Health.
Hospitals within the IU Health network have the equipment, procedures, and staff necessary to begin immediate, around-the-clock administration of immunization shots, he said.
Community Health Network is also preparing to begin vaccinating Hoosiers in mid-December and “expects delivery of the vaccine within 24 hours” of approval, a spokesperson said in an emailed statement to News 8.
St. Vincent Health will launch its vaccination program as soon as emergency use authorization is granted and doses are delivered to its hospitals, a spokesperson said.
Long-term care facility staffers and health care workers at hospitals will be among the first Hoosiers to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
The state health department’s vaccine allocation plan calls for a three-phased approach.
During “Phase 1-A,” health care workers and volunteers who cannot work from home and may be exposed to the virus will receive the vaccine.
Other essential workers and people at higher risk of severe COVID-19 illness will be vaccinated during “Phase 1-B.”
The general population will begin receiving vaccines during Phase 2, when the state anticipates a “large number of doses” being available to the public.
Hoosiers will have open access to COVID-19 vaccines during Phase 3.
Weaver tried to ease widespread skepticism about the safety and effectiveness of a rapidly developed vaccine.
“Nobody is skipping the safety steps,” he said of Operation Warp Speed. “The important thing is to make sure that it is effective and safe.”
Indiana on Tuesday again topped its record high for hospitalizations. Hospitals statewide were treating 3,279 coronavirus patients, the Indiana State Department of Health reported Tuesday, and that’s more than a 300% increase since late September. Also Tuesday, the state reported it’s nearing another record for the most deaths in a single month, with 103 new deaths noted Tuesday, pushing November’s total to 991 deaths, or 50 fewer deaths than Indiana’s high for all of April. An additional 5,700 Hoosiers also have tested positive, the state said Tuesday.
