Several ineligible people were vaccinated last week in Johnson County due to a shipment of thawed COVID-19 vaccines.
The Johnson County Health Department and Johnson Memorial Hospital late last week received 957 already thawed COVID-19 vaccines, prompting a period of a few days when some people received the vaccine ahead of schedule, officials said.
Local health officials last week asked the Indiana State Department of Health for more vaccines after there was a delay in vaccine shipments and confusion about how many doses were needed for the joint vaccine clinic, said Betsy Swearingen, director of the Johnson County Health Department.
A supply was transferred to the local clinic, housed at Johnson Memorial, from a site in Terre Haute, but those vaccines were already in the process of thawing when they arrived, Swearingen said.
The clock was ticking, as local officials were met with the difficult task of distributing all of those vaccines quickly, she said. Doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can only be stored thawed for up to five days, according to guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The vaccines went into arms on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, within the window recommended by both the FDA and vaccine manufacturer, Swearingen said.
Staff distributed record-high numbers of vaccines for three days. Nearly 600 vaccines were administered on Friday, double the usual daily amount. To accomplish this, those from the same household were vaccinated in the same room, while others who consented were vaccinated in a hallway instead of an examination room, she said.
The health department opened up the shot to the general public briefly, and sent a sign-up sheet to county employees. Though the eligibility window widened, the goal was still to vaccinate those most at risk, Swearingen said.
The word got out to many more people than intended after county employees forwarded the sign-up sheet to family, friends and neighbors without the health department’s authorization. The department did not tell the general public the vaccine was open to all because vaccines were still limited and it is likely there would have been a rush to register, she said.
Right now, the only Hoosiers eligible to get a vaccine are first responders, health care workers and individuals age 70 and older, according to the state’s guidelines.
But some individuals who did not meet those guidelines and are not at an increased risk were given vaccines. The health department said this week it does not have statistics about how many who did not meet those guidelines were given vaccines, Swearingen said.
While some did cut in line, most of the vaccines were given to people age 50 and older and those with medical conditions that put them at risk for a poor outcome if they contract COVID-19, she said.
The thawed vaccines were also given to people who were on a vaccine waitlist the county health department keeps. The list is made up of people of all ages and risk categories who asked to be placed on a waiting list for the vaccine, Swearingen said.
The waitlist ensures no vaccines are wasted, a requirement of a state grant the health department is using to put on the clinic. Once doses are prepared, they must be used that day, so a waitlist is used to make sure no vaccine is wasted, she said.
Folks on the waitlist are called at random near the end of each day and are asked to be at the hospital within about 15 minutes. They are given shots that were intended for people who were unable to make their scheduled appointments, Swearingen said.
This broadening of eligibility takes place as residents and staff at many local long-term care facilities have yet to be vaccinated. The health department, though, is tasked with vaccinating the general population, while long-term care facilities receive separate shipments that have been set aside by the state and will, in time, receive the vaccine via a federal partnership with CVS Pharmacy.
So far, since vaccine distribution began Dec. 18, the county health department and hospital have distributed more than 8,800 vaccines to the public, according to data from the state health department. Local officials are also well underway with giving second doses to health care workers who were vaccinated in December.
A total number of vaccines currently on hand in Johnson County was not available at press time.
