Appointments filled at 2 upcoming Indiana mass vaccine sites

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Coronavirus vaccine shots were given to more than 16,000 people during Indiana's first mass vaccination clinic and all appointments have been filled for two similar upcoming clinics, state health officials said Tuesday.

The f our-day clinic at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway wrapped up Monday with 16,511 getting shots of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Those shots mean that about 725,000 people, or about 11% of Indiana's population, were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 through Monday, according to the s tate health department.

All appointments have been taken for the mass vaccination sites set for this Friday and Saturday at Ivy Tech Community College in Sellersburg and March 26-27 at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend. Another mass clinic is being planned for next week at an undetermined site in Gary.

The vaccinations come as Indiana's current average of about 10 COVID-19 deaths a day is down from the peak of 103 a day in December. Despite that improvement, the state is recording more coronavirus deaths in less than two weeks than the 119 flu deaths reported over 32 weeks during the 2018-19 influenza season.

Indiana has recorded almost 12,800 confirmed or presumed coronavirus-related deaths over the past year.