Indiana Cracks Down On Clinics Violating COVID-19 Vaccine Eligibility Guidelines

Indiana officials announced Wednesday they’re cracking down on clinics that are vaccinating Hoosiers for COVID-19 who are not eligible under the state’s guidelines.

Teachers recently complained on social media that they’d been taken off vaccine wait lists around Indiana after state officials ordered vaccination sites to do so.

State Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box said the state regularly communicates with vaccine providers. She said it clarifies the guidelines and cautions sites from violating them before taking punitive action.

“There [has] been a rare instance, I would say, where individuals have really gone way outside the guidelines," Box said. "And that is a situation where we basically said they would no longer receive first doses from us, but they would receive the second doses to finish up anybody they had vaccinated.”

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Box said few, if any, people had to reschedule their appointments elsewhere when clinics were cut off by the state.

“Because what we wanted them to do is to finish out the appointments that they already had scheduled, so that Hoosiers would not be disappointed,” Box said.

Box said the state will work with those vaccination sites to get them up and running again in the future.

Contact reporter Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.