SPEEDWAY, Ind. — The Indiana State Department of Health is partnering with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Indiana University Health to offer more multi-day mass vaccination clinics.
Gov. Eric Holcomb made the announcement in his weekly update on Wednesday afternoon.
Appointments will be available from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. on the following days:
- April 1-3
- April 13-18
- April 24-30
The clinic will have the Johnson & Johnson vaccine available for those who sign up. The state expects to give up to 6,000 shots per day at the clinic.
"Getting thousands of Hoosiers vaccinated in a matter of days is a huge undertaking that would not be possible without the medical and logistical support of IU Health, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indiana National Guard," said State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box said in a statement. "We are incredibly grateful for their partnership and look forward to getting up to 96,000 shots in arms by the end of April at this special location."
As many as 200 IU healthcare workers will be helping at the track, in addition to the national guard.
“To host a vaccination event like this in the month of April leading up to the historical month of May at the Motor Speedway is pretty epic,” said Kristen Kelley, IU Health's director of infection prevention. “We need events like this where we can efficiently and quickly get people vaccinated so we all can get out of this pandemic as quickly as possible.”
This will be Indiana’s largest mass vaccination clinic yet. It starts one day after the state opens eligibility to Hoosiers age 16 and older. Currently, only those 40 and older can book an appointment at the track. Everyone else must wait until eligibility opens to Hoosiers 16 and older.
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In an address to the state Tuesday evening, Holcomb said all Hoosiers 16 and older would be eligible to sign up for the vaccine on March 31. Because the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has only received FDA approval for adults 18 and older, only those people will be able to get vaccinated at IMS.
Appointments for the mass vaccination sites will appear on ourshot.in.gov sometime Wednesday.