HANCOCK COUNTY — As U.S. health officials mull plans for COVID-19 booster shots, the county’s health department says it’ll be ready if and when the time comes.
Whether the hospital system in the county would restart an extensive COVID-19 vaccination clinic offering the boosters remains to be determined.
Officials on Wednesday announced the plans to offer boosters to all Americans to shore up their protection amid the surging delta variant and evidence that the vaccines’ effectiveness is falling.
The plan, as outlined by the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other top authorities, calls for an extra dose eight months after people get their second shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. The doses could begin the week of Sept. 20.
In Hancock County, nearly 37,000 residents have received both doses of one of those vaccines over the past eight months. By Jan. 20, eight months before boosters could become available the week of Sept. 20, about 1,600 county residents were fully vaccinated.
The overall plan is subject to a Food and Drug Administration evaluation of the safety and effectiveness of a third dose.
The Indiana Department of Health lists nine locations in Hancock County to get a COVID-19 vaccine, including pharmacies and the county health department.
Dr. Gary Sharp, Hancock County health officer, told the Daily Reporter in an email that third doses of COVID-19 vaccine, if recommended for additional individuals beyond the immunocompromised group currently eligible, will be available at the county health department. He added when an individual becomes eligible, they can register at ourshot.in.gov.
Last week, U.S. health officials recommended boosters for some people with weakened immune systems, such as cancer patients and organ transplant recipients. Offering boosters to all Americans would be a major expansion of what is already the biggest vaccination campaign in U.S. history.
“We will continue to utilize our very dedicated volunteer pool, many of whom have remained active in our vaccination clinic,” Sharp said.
Hancock Regional Hospital was the first to administer COVID-19 vaccinations in the county after quickly mobilizing a clinic in December 2020. It started giving shots to front-line health care workers and continued as more parts of the population became eligible.
After providing around 49,000 doses over about seven months, the hospital closed its COVID-19 vaccination clinic on July 30 due to a decrease in people seeking vaccinations. That decline in participation is seen across the county, which has a seven-day average for total daily doses of just over 100, down from a peak of nearly 750 in April.
Tim Livesay, director of pharmacy at Hancock Regional Hospital, said the hospital has yet to determine whether it will restart any kind of clinic if booster shots end up getting recommended for all Americans.
“We really haven’t gone down that path yet to be able to say we’re going to do it or not,” Livesay said. “Right now it’s (booster shots) only recommended for people who are moderately to severely immunocompromised.”
People who received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine will also probably need extra shots, but health officials are waiting for more data.
In a statement, U.S. health officials said it is “very clear” that the vaccines’ protection against infection wanes over time, and now, with the highly contagious delta variant spreading rapidly, “we are starting to see evidence of reduced protection against mild and moderate disease.”
Nearly 40,000 Hancock County residents age 12 and older are fully vaccinated from COVID-19, about 60% of that population.
Considerations on booster shots come as the Indiana Department of Health downgrades Hancock County’s COVID-19 advisory level to orange, the second most severe. The county added 62 new cases Wednesday, its highest amount in a single day since January, when the U.S. was in the midst of a COVID-19 surge.
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COVID-19 data through early Wednesday, Aug. 18
Hancock County
- 603 new tests administered (July 29-Aug. 17)
- 62 new cases (Aug. 17)
- 7% seven-day (Aug. 5-11) positivity rate all tests, 8.6% cumulative rate
- 0 new deaths
- 125,555 total tests administered
- 9,269 total cases
- 11.4% seven-day (Aug. 5-11) positivity rate unique individuals, 19.1% cumulative rate
- 153 total deaths
- 39,707 age 12+ fully vaccinated (59.7% of that population)
Indiana
- 45,657 new tests administered (April 17, 2020-Aug. 17, 2021), 10,241 new individuals tested
- 3,558 new cases (Aug. 17)
- 10.5% seven-day (Aug. 5-11) positivity rate all tests, 8.4% cumulative rate
- 25 new deaths (July 21-Aug. 17)
- 11,715,116 total tests administered
- 3,775,090 total individuals tested
- 809,545 total cases
- 19.4% seven-day (Aug. 5-11) positivity rate unique individuals, 21.4% cumulative rate
- 13,768 total deaths
- 430 total probable deaths
- 54.7% ICU beds in use – non-COVID
- 18.5% ICU beds in use – COVID
- 26.8% ICU beds available
- 20.4% ventilators in use – non-COVID
- 5.7% ventilators in use – COVID
- 73.9% ventilators available
- Hospital census: 1,616 total COVID-19 patients (1,331 confirmed, 285 under investigation)
- Delta variant: 82.6% of samples in August
- Not variant of concern: 14.8% of samples in August
- Gamma variant: 1.4% of samples in August
- Alpha variant: 1.1% of samples in August
- 104 total cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children
- 3,026,218 age 12+ fully vaccinated (51.6% of that population)
- 6,740 breakthrough cases (0.225% of fully vaccinated individuals)
- 226 breakthrough hospitalizations (0.008% of fully vaccinated individuals)
- 78 breakthrough deaths (0.003% of fully vaccinated individuals)
Source: Indiana Department of Health
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