Indiana falls behind other states in meeting vaccination goal

Thursday, June 3, 2021 at 7:14 AM

By Associated Press

Less than half of eligible Hoosiers are vaccinated.

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INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana is falling behind other states when it comes to getting residents vaccinated.

Health experts said we still need 1.5 million Hoosiers to get vaccinated before we reach the vaccination goal outlined by President Biden.

Health leaders said Indiana still has a long way to go before reaching herd immunity.

“If you define it by what President Biden said is the goal of 70% first doses by the Fourth of July, we are not going to get there. In fact, we are going to miss it by a wide margin,” Dr. Paul Calkins, Associate Chief Medical Executive at IU Health said.

According to the Indiana State Department of Health, about 45.5% of eligible Hoosiers have their first dose of the vaccine. Dr. Calkins explained if vaccination rates continue as they are here in Indiana, we likely won’t reach President Biden’s goal until November.

“Twelve states have already reached that goal so it is concerning that we’ve really just seen this tremendous drop off,” Calkins said.

The reason for the decline in vaccinations could be due to several factors including things like politics, access, convenience and hesitancy.