HANCOCK COUNTY — Charles Minch took a seat in the observation area of Hancock Regional Hospital’s COVID-19 vaccination clinic. Beneath the bandage on his arm, he had just received an injection that was beginning to teach his cells how to fight off a virus that’s killed more than 100 of his neighbors and infected almost 6,600.
“Sooner or later this has got to go away,” the 80-year-old Fortville resident said of the novel coronavirus pandemic. “But it’s not going to miraculously go away.”
It’s going to take the continuation of a massive vaccination effort, one he’s now part of after getting his first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine this week.
Health officials in Hancock County report a steady stream of vaccinations, with both of the county’s sites booked out for weeks. They say they’re ready to expand to more people when state officials authorize it. The state indicates it’s ready to make those kinds of decisions upon the go-ahead from the federal government and vaccine producers.
COVID-19 vaccinations in Indiana are available to health-care workers, first-responders and people age 70 and older.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates Hancock County has almost 13,000 residents 65 and older.
As of early Thursday, 5,466 Hancock County residents had received the first of two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 1,532 were fully vaccinated.
The county’s vaccination clinics are located at Hancock Regional Hospital and the Hancock County Health Department.
Those trying on Wednesday to book an appointment in the county faced a wait at least two weeks to get their shots.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the hospital’s clinic was booked through Feb. 8, with several openings over the days that followed through Feb. 15.
The health department was booked through Feb. 17, with a few openings over the following days through Feb. 22.
In the surrounding area, Major Hospital in Shelbyville was booked until Feb. 6, when it had 20 slots available. The Shelby County Health Department had openings as soon as Feb. 6, and a clinic in Fishers had multiple slots starting on Feb. 4.
Hancock Regional Hospital’s COVID-19 vaccination clinic has been operating for more than a month. As of Tuesday evening, it had administered almost 5,000 doses, 3,905 of which were first doses and 1,087 of which were second doses, said Tim Livesay, the hospital’s director of pharmacy.
Livesay added the hospital continues to hit its maximum of administering about 288 doses a day.
Crystal Baker, office manager and preparedness coordinator for the Hancock County Health Department, said its clinic had administered 400 doses by the end of Wednesday since launching last week. She added the clinic increased its original rate of 50 doses a day to nearly 100 due to increased allocations from the Indiana State Department of Health.
Dr. Kristina Box, Indiana state health commissioner, said the federal government has told the state it will get 79,000 doses a week through the end of January.
“We know the federal government has said they will send us more vaccine, but we haven’t been told when, or how much, or that the doses are on their way,” Box said at a media briefing this month, adding the state will expand efforts as more vaccine is received.
Dr. Lindsay Weaver, chief medical officer for the Indiana State Department of Health, said the department looks at population and other data while also monitoring schedules at vaccination clinics across the state when determining where to send doses and how many to send.
“Our team looks at the numbers every single day and sees — Where do we have the greatest uptake? Who is almost 100% full?” she said. “And we make sure that we pivot to either add an additional location or send additional vaccine there.”
Weaver also said the state is ready to expand vaccinations and vaccination sites.
“All of those plans are in action, and we’re just waiting to have the vaccine available to do so,” she said.
Gov. Eric Holcomb agreed.
“Our limiting factor is inventory,” he said. “We have the network built.”
Livesay said Hancock Regional Hospital is ready for those expansions too, explaining it’s exploring adding hours and the number of doses the clinic administers.
“I feel like our plan going forward would be able to accommodate expansion for what we need to do,” Livesay said.
Baker said the health department is ready as well.
“At this time, we are working with allocations from the state in one- to two-week increments,” she said. “We have the staff, volunteers, and site location to manage those doses and appointments. As with all things COVID-19-related, we will adapt and change as necessary. It has been an exciting time at the health department as we vaccinate our community’s most vulnerable populations and will do everything we can to continue to serve in whatever capacity is needed.”
Elsewhere in the country this week, states have reported running out of vaccine, and tens of thousands of people who managed to get appointments for a first dose are seeing them canceled.
The reason for the apparent mismatch between supply and demand in the country was unclear, but last week the Health and Human Services Department suggested that states had unrealistic expectations for how much vaccine was on the way.
In any case, new shipments go out every week, and both the government and the drugmakers have said there are large quantities in the pipeline.
After getting his first dose at Hancock Regional Hospital, Minch said he’s looking forward to doing one thing more than any other when the pandemic is over.
“Getting rid of this thing,” he said with a laugh, motioning toward his mask. “It’s a necessity, so I take all my precautions I can. I’d like to be able to do more, but I do what I have to do.”
Minch called 211 to register for his appointment shortly after vaccinations opened up to people 80 and older on Jan. 8. He said the process did not take long.
“It was really nice,” Minch said.
A few chairs over sat Jackie Carter, 89, Greenfield, whose reason for signing up for a vaccination was clear.
“I sure don’t want to get it,” she said of COVID-19.
She trusted her physician’s stance on the vaccine.
“My doctor said he’d recommend it for everybody,” she said.
But some other people convinced her too.
“I figured if the politicians took it, it had to be OK,” she said, rousing a laugh from her daughter, Sherry Denny, also of Greenfield.
Denny said her sister-in-law signed up her own mother and Carter online. The appointment for Carter was about two weeks out — about a week longer than it could have been — Denny said, but they needed to hold out for an evening appointment because she works during the day and needed to drive her mother.
Joanne Young, 83, a Hancock County native who now lives west of Cumberland, got her first dose with her husband at Hancock Regional Hospital.
“I’m very glad to get this and get it over with,” she said.
She’s looking forward to getting to be around more people again as vaccinations spread.
“We go to church, go to the grocery, that’s about it,” she said.
Several of Young’s family members have gotten the novel coronavirus, but she’s avoided it.
Her and her husband’s Greenfield-based doctor’s office helped them schedule their vaccination appointment. Young said they waited a couple weeks.
“Thank the Lord for it,” she said of the vaccine.
With Hancock Regional Hospital’s clinic now several weeks in, many recipients working in health care have started to get their second doses of the vaccine.
Brandy Huffman, who works in billing at Major Hospital in Shelbyville, got hers this week.
“I just want everything to get back to normal,” she said. “I’m tired of seeing people getting sick and dying, and the masks. I just want normal. Well, it’s never going to go back to normal, but it’s going to go back to a new normal.”
As vaccinations climb in Hancock County, COVID-19 cases haven’t in recent days when compared to recent weeks. The improvement downgraded the county’s weekly COVID-19 score from red — the most severe — to orange on Wednesday. The county’s advisory level remained red, however, as two consecutive weeks of improvement are needed for that to change.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
