More than 12,900 Hoosiers have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began. The deaths take a toll on the emotions of their families, but also on their finances. Funerals are expensive, totaling thousands of dollars.

When I received my first dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine last December, nobody paid me to roll up my sleeve. Yet, as vaccination efforts approach an expected tipping point, at which the amount of available vaccine exceeds the number of willing recipients, with the rate of vaccination far b…