The Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) has expanded the list of high-risk conditions for COVID-19 vaccination eligibility and is once again asking physicians to register their patients with these conditions, regardless of age, as soon as possible using its online portal. IDOH has also provided a letter to send to your patients in these new high-risk groups.

The new eligibility applies to patients, regardless of age, with the following childhood conditions carried into adulthood: Cystic fibrosis; muscular dystrophy; severe heart defects requiring specialized medical care; severe type 1 diabetes that has required hospitalization in the past year; phenylketonuria (PKU), Tay-Sachs, and other rare, inherited metabolic disorders; epilepsy with continuing seizures, hydrocephaly, microcephaly and other severe neurologic disorders; severe asthma, requiring hospitalization in the past year; alpha and beta thalassemia; spina bifida and cerebral palsy.

Also eligible are patients who require supplemental oxygen and/or tracheostomy; who have pulmonary fibrosis or alpha-1 antitrypsin; who are in an immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from blood or bone marrow transplant, immune deficiencies, combined primary immunodeficiency disorder, HIV, daily use of corticosteroids, use of other immune weakening medicines or who are receiving tumor necrosis factor-alpha blocker or rituximab.

Intellectually and developmentally disabled patients receiving home/community-based services are also eligible for vaccination, but the Family and Social Services Administration is providing patient information for these individuals.

High-risk populations previously eligible for vaccination regardless of age include active dialysis patients, sickle cell disease patients, Down syndrome patients, post-solid organ transplant patients, patients who are actively in treatment (chemotherapy, radiation, surgery) for cancer now or in the last three months, or who have active primary lung cancer or active hematologic cancers, lymphoma, leukemia and multiple myeloma.

To submit your eligible patients for vaccination, please enter their names, birth dates, email addresses and cellphone numbers in the COVID-19 Provider Portal for At-Risk Patient Vaccination. IDOH requests that this be done as soon as possible, to be sure these patients are vaccinated before eligibility is expanded further. Once registered, patients will be contacted by IDOH about next steps.

A letter from IDOH to send to your patients in these groups is available here. A letter from IDOH to physicians about the new eligibility is available here.