Rosemary Slusser took one arm out of the sleeve of her light blue cardigan and looked ahead as Kelly Hilligoss poked her with a thin needle.

“I didn’t feel a thing,” 85-year-old Slusser told the nurse.

Slusser was one of the first seniors to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at the Brown County Music Center on Jan. 12.

“I am very relieved. I don’t feel like I’m going to have to worry every time I go outside,” Slusser said.

[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]

She has a trip planned with her youngest daughter to go to Florida this year. She will receive both rounds of the vaccine before she parts, which gives her enough peace of mind to travel.

“I’m more relaxed about it,” she said.

She’s tightened up on outings since the pandemic.

“I used to go concerts, out to eat with my friends. I still go to the grocery and so on, but I spend a lot of time at home reading instead of out running around,” she said.

“I just feel safer. I’m just going to feel safer. That’s the main thing.”

The Brown County Health Department began vaccinations on Jan. 12 at the music center.

Appointment registration opened the morning of Jan. 8 statewide, with many residents reporting long wait times to complete their request due to high demand.

Slusser said scheduling for her was “very easy.”

“I did it on my phone online. I just put in the web address. I put that in and all of the information came in. It let me sign up,” she said.

Initially, anyone 80 or older qualified for this round of vaccinations, along with people who were previously eligible under phase 1A, such as health care and funeral home workers, police and firefighters, and Department of Correction staff.

On Jan. 13, the Indiana State Department of Health announced Hoosiers age 70 and older also were eligible to get the vaccine.

During Gov. Eric Holcomb’s press conference the same day, the state’s chief medical officer, Dr. Lindsay Weaver, reported that nearly 60,000 Hoosiers aged 70 to 79 had signed up for vaccine appointments that day.

She added that the demand for the vaccine is “incredibly high” and that Hoosiers should not be discouraged if a vaccination site location has limited availability because the state is “working to add more every day.”

Several seniors in Brown County reported no appointments were open at the music center when they tried to schedule, but they were able to find them in neighboring counties.

Corey Frost, public health preparedness coordinator for Brown County, advised eligible people to go ahead and take the vaccine appointments they could find where they could find them, as the county works with the state to try to expand its vaccine supply.

“The best problem to have is we have so many people who are excited to get the vaccine,” Weaver said.

By Jan. 14 more than 250,000 Hoosiers ages 70 and older had scheduled appointments to receive their first dose of the vaccine, according to a press release from ISDH.

Brown County had administered 579 first doses as of Jan. 15.

State Health Commissioner Dr. Kristina Box said that once the state opens vaccinations up to anyone 60 years and older, that will reach around 22.5 of the state’s population. That age group has been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, accounting for 64 percent of COVD-19 hospitalizations and 93 percent of the state’s deaths related to the virus.

“Our goal is to reduce deaths and hospitalizations,” she said.

Long-term care facility residents also are eligible for vaccinations. CVS is providing vaccine at Brown County Health & Living Community.

How the vaccine works

The Food and Drug Administration has authorized two vaccines so far, with more vaccines working their way through the process.

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines work by introducing into the body non-infectious snippet of genetic material called messenger RNA, or mRNA, wrapped in a protective coating.

Brown County is administering the Moderna vaccine.

The mRNA contains instructions to cells to build a piece of the so-called “spike protein” that is unique to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

As the immune system detects the newly built protein pieces, it produces antibodies specifically designed to eliminate them, training the immune system to recognize a distinctive characteristic of the virus and respond if it were to later encounter the real virus.

The mRNA never enters a cell’s nucleus and cannot alter or interact with human DNA. The vaccines do not contain microchips.

After the cells make the piece of the spike protein, the mRNA is broken down and eliminated, leaving no permanent trace.

The mRNA approach is different than conventional vaccines that have been around for generations, which typically involved injecting dead or weakened viruses or specific pieces of them into the body.

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots are the first vaccines using mRNA technology authorized for human use in the United States.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was shown to be 95 percent effective, while the Moderna vaccine was shown to be 94.5 percent effective, according to federal regulators. FDA scientists found similar effectiveness across different age groups, genders, races and participants with health conditions associated with a high risk of severe COVID-19.

By contrast, flu vaccines have ranged from 20 to 60 percent effectiveness in recent years.

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines underwent a “thorough evaluation” for safety before being authorized by federal regulators, according to the FDA. Scientists at the CDC have said the vaccines were held to the same “rigorous” safety and effectiveness standards as all other vaccines.

During clinical trials, the most commonly reported side effects of both vaccines included pain at the injection site, tiredness, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain and fever, though “more people experienced these side effects after the second dose than after the first dose,” according to the FDA.

These reactions are a sign that the immune system is revving up, according to wire reports. COVID-19 vaccines tend to cause more of those reactions than a flu shot, about what people experience with shingles vaccinations.

At the music center

COVID-19 testing is also still happening at the music center by appointment only. Virus testing is drive-thru; vaccines are walk-in.

The music center’s lobby has been sectioned off with yellow construction tarps to create separate areas for those receiving the vaccine, those waiting their turn and those waiting 15 minutes to make sure they did not experience side effects.

Vaccine is being administered to a new person about every 10 minutes. On the first day, Frost said 42 appointment slots had been filled and there were eight leftover doses because the vaccine vials come with 10 doses.

“We had to bust one of the vials open and draw two, so you have eight still in that vial. You have to ditch that at the end of the day. I think that is the biggest logistical concern, making sure we use all of the vaccine you can,” he said.

The health department has a waiting list of people who meet the criteria, and when they have leftover doses, they contact those people to see if they can come in and receive one.

The health department received 200 doses of the vaccine for the first week with another 200 expected to be received at the start of this week.

Because of the limited vaccine the county is set to receive, appointment times here are limited.

“Initially, we were allocated a specific number of doses and the demand definitely is more than the supply,” Frost said.

‘Light at the end’

Since the start of the pandemic, 84-year-old Richard Antes has only left his home a couple of times, including this trip into town to get his vaccination. Getting vaccinated means “safety down the road,” he said.

“I don’t go off of the property. I stay on our own property. We don’t even do grocery shopping. We have two sons who get our groceries,” he said.

When Richard received his first dose, vaccine appointments were only available to those 80 and older, so his wife, Carole, 77, had to wait a bit longer before she received hers.

That limitation had her wishing she was older. “I didn’t think that would ever happen,” she said with a laugh.

The couple has seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild whom they have not been able to see for nearly a year.

“The nice thing about when I finally get it, maybe we can finally visit family,” Carole said. “We stayed home alone on Thanksgiving and for Christmas. We did try to do to Zoom. Sometimes that helps, a little bit.”

Brown County resident Yolanda Toschlog was also one of the first in line to receive a vaccine Jan. 12 at the music center.

Toschlog works with people who have developmental disabilities. She said getting vaccinated is not just about her own health, but about being there for her clients who need her the most during this stressful time.

She said receiving the vaccine was a relief, but also a bit concerning since the approval process was so short. “But I feel like we need to do something. Basically the whole world is pulling for us to do something about this virus, so you have to take a chance sometimes,” she said.

“I haven’t really been able to see my clients in person, so the vaccine is more reassurance for them and for me,” she said.

Toschlog said the first time she tried to schedule an appointment, the slots were taken. She checked the next morning and a spot had opened up in Brown County.

After receiving their first dose at the music center, people were directed to a station to schedule their second dose, which has to happen 28 days after the first one.

During the press conference last week, Box reminded Hoosiers that even after receiving their second dose, they should still follow social distancing guidelines, including wearing a mask.

“This is more important now than ever before,” she said.

“Stay the course. Don’t let down your guard. We will get to other side of this pandemic, we just need more time,” she said.

It was less than a year ago when the county’s emergency operations center was activated, with Emergency Management Director Susan Armstrong and Frost leading that effort at the county level.

Now, Armstrong and Frost are working the vaccine site.

“This is the end game to this. It’s a long phase of this operation,” Frost said.

“This is that little light at the end of the tunnel. This is what we’ve been working for, so it’s exciting.”

Armstrong said it felt good to be standing in the vaccine clinic, “to know that we’re helping to keep our community where it needs to be,” she said.

“It’s been such a long year, and it’s been such a year of ups and downs. People are getting fatigued and they’re over it. This is where we need to be, and I’m glad.”

“I’m glad we’re able to do the older population first and get some of our older citizens that have been sequestered in their homes for a year,” she said. “We can get them in and get them vaccinated, so we can start getting back to normal life again.”