Ducey acts to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine distribution

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey issued an advisory Tuesday to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine distribution across the state and move doses to where they can be rapidly administered to residents.

“The COVID-19 vaccination is our best shot at returning to life as it should be. Over the last two weeks, the COVID-19 vaccination site at State Farm Stadium has become a national model for vaccine administration,” Ducey said in a news release. “With adequate vaccine doses, we can build on this success, both at our existing vaccination sites, and at additional sites across the state. This advisory will provide transparency in the pace of vaccination administration and allow us to direct vaccine doses to where they will be most rapidly distributed.”

Health care providers and local health agencies administering the vaccine are required to report data to the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) indicating the pace of vaccination distribution. The state may also reallocate vaccination doses to maximize rapid distribution, according to the advisory, which extends the detailed reporting requirement for hospitals, testing laboratories and other health care facilities.

“Now,” Ducey added, “our federal partners need to do their part. They need to prioritize quicker distribution of the vaccine to the states, so we can get the vaccine out of freezers, off of shelves and into the arms of Arizonans.”

The COVID-19 Vaccination Site at State Farm Stadium launched on Jan. 11. The site, administered by the state and operated by ADHS and community partners, has dramatically accelerated the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to state officials.

On Saturday, the City of Maricopa and the Southwest Pediatrics & Family Medical Care practice administered about 500 first-doses of the Moderna vaccine at Copper Sky.

The Pinal County Department of Public Health updated its web page Tuesday with a link to schedule a vaccination appointment with the Frys Retail Program. Fry’s is beginning to receive federal vaccine at various locations in Arizona, but some locations have not received their supply yet and appointments may not available at this time. That appears to be the case with the Maricopa Fry’s, which shows no appointments available.

If you are checking the Fry’s site at that link, after you have selected a pharmacy location, be sure to click the box that comes up saying COVID-19 vaccine, in order to be taken to the page that says whether appointments are available.

In total, 486,338 vaccinations have been administered statewide as of Tuesday. Local health agencies and healthcare providers have administered 407,757 doses of the vaccine to Arizonans since Dec. 16, at an average rate of 9,708 vaccines per day statewide. ADHS has administered 79,112 doses since Jan. 11 at an average rate of 5,247 per day, at just one site. ADHS will launch a second site on Feb. 1 at the Phoenix Municipal Stadium near Tempe.

Those two sites are capable of administering 6,000-12,000 vaccinations per day, but with limited vaccine doses available, the sites are operating at partial capacity. Last week, the federal government denied a request by ADHS to allocate 300,000 additional vaccine doses per week to Arizona. As a result, the Phoenix Municipal Stadium will launch with just 500 appointments scheduled per day.

Current data indicates some providers reporting as much as 100% of their vaccine doses yet to be administered. The order requires local health agencies and health care providers to report their plans to administer unused doses and allow ADHS to redirect unused vaccine doses and accelerate delivery across the state.