Indiana hospitals work with limited Pfizer supply; health officials say hope on horizon

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — In Gov. Eric Holcomb’s weekly COVID-19 briefing, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Lindsay Weaver announced a hospital in northern Indiana received its first shipment of the Moderna vaccine on Monday.

Indianapolis could have it as soon as Wednesday.

State health officials said since the start of the pandemic, hospitals have been working off projections. This means some hospitals prepared for a certain number of doses and ended up with fewer.

Now with two vaccines to work with, they hope to fill some of the gap.

More than 40,000 Hoosiers have been vaccinated so far, and 50,000 more are on a list to receive their first dose by Jan. 4. Weaver said the vaccine would be a scarce resource for a very long time.

“We received a total of 55,000 Pfizer doses on Friday, and yesterday received an additional 39,000 and so we know we have over 400,000 health care providers in Indiana, so we are not where we need to be,” said Weaver.

With Moderna coming soon, she does think the state will be in a much better position very soon.

Right now, the plan is for Moderna to go directly to long-term care facilities. At that point the state will begin vaccinating patients and get to staff who haven’t been able to get into hospitals for their first dose.

Weaver expects that process to begin on Dec. 28.

“Once we get through these holidays and we get consistent shipments of the vaccines, we’ll be able to fall into a better steady state, where all of our hospitals will know how much of the vaccine they have and so that we can get those appointments filled and scheduled in a timely manner,” said Weaver.

State health officials also said on Tuesday, the number of people in Indiana who want the vaccine is rising. They shared data from a recent survey that found 57% of Hoosiers would get the vaccine, and 34% said they were unsure.