This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana State Department of Health announced Tuesday that Hoosiers age 60 and older are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

The vaccine is available at no cost, and appointments can be made by visiting the state’s website here.

The vaccination website may experience issues due to high traffic.

Vaccine appointments for this newly eligible population will be available over the next four to six weeks to align with the state receiving its expected weekly vaccine allocation. Hoosiers who cannot find an appointment at the nearest location are encouraged to look at other sites in neighboring counties. Appointments are being added regularly as vaccine supplies permit.

Hoosiers who do not have access to a computer or cell phone or who need assistance with registration also can call 211 or contact one of Indiana’s Area Agencies on Aging for assistance. A caregiver or loved one may make an appointment on behalf of an eligible senior.

The vaccine currently requires two doses. The appointment for the second dose will be made when the first dose is administered.

Officials are meeting Friday to discuss approving Johnson & Johnson’s single-shot vaccine.

ISDH reminds Hoosiers that the vaccine supply is limited nationally, and Indiana is using its age-based rollout to help fulfill its goals of reducing hospitalizations, saving lives and protecting vulnerable populations.

Hoosiers age 60 and older comprise 22.5 percent of the population but account for 64.1 percent of hospitalizations and 93.3 percent of COVID-19 deaths, according to ISDH.

To date, more than 60 percent of eligible Hoosiers have scheduled an appointment to be vaccinated against COVID-19. As of Monday, 893,246 Hoosiers have received a first dose of vaccine, and 440,028 are fully vaccinated.

From the ISDH:

Who is eligible to receive vaccine?

  • Are you age 60 or older?
  • Do you work or volunteer in healthcare and have (physical or close) contact or face to face interactions with patients? Examples include:
    • Inpatient, outpatient, provider office setting, nursing homes, residential care facilities, assisted living facilities, in-home services
    • This includes all clinical and non-clinical positions: clinicians, dietary, environmental services, administrators who have direct contact with patients, clergy who see patients in the healthcare setting, non-clinicians who assist in procedures, transportation staff, etc.
    • This also includes local health department staff who interact with patients at test sites, health clinics or provide direct patient care
  • Do you have exposure to COVID-19 infectious material? (Examples include cleaning of rooms or material from COVID-19 patients, performing COVID-19 testing, other exposure to infected tissue, performing autopsies or other post-mortem examinations of COVID-19 patients)
  • Are you a first responder (firefighter, police officer and sheriff’s deputy, emergency medical services, reservist and correctional officer) who is regularly called to the scene of an emergency to give medical aid?

Here’s a look at COVID-19 vaccination statuses across the United States from the Associated Press: