Hoosiers 70 and older can now register for appointments to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. The Indiana Department of Health announced the expansion Wednesday.

A bill that would give Hoosier workers the right to refuse employer-mandated vaccines had its first hearing in a committee Wednesday morning. It would go further than current federal laws and excuse workers based on their conscience.

Registration opened to Hoosiers aged 80 and older on Friday, which represents about 4 percent of the population.

In some counties, initial doses have already become available for teachers, while others are still waiting without much information about when they'll get their shot.

Health officials say Marion County is experiencing a bump in cases after the holidays.

The next vaccination steps announced Wednesday come after vaccinations of Indiana health care workers began Dec. 16 and extended to nursing home residents and staffers last week.

Indiana has used less than half of the total vaccine doses it's received so far. But Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Dr. Lindsay Weaver said many more appointments are scheduled through the end of January and no vaccine will be wasted.

Health experts stress the importance of remaining cautious of the virus as the state works toward achieving herd immunity.

Doses of the coronavirus vaccine had been delivered to 19 prisons, including the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, by Wednesday, a Bureau of Prisons spokesman told The Associated Press.

Rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in Indiana remains focused on frontline health care workers and nursing home residents. That's even as some hospitals are reportedly vaccinating people much further down the priority list, like teachers.