ARIZONA NEWS
General public in Arizona expected to get COVID vaccine access by March
PHOENIX – A day after becoming one of the first Arizonans to be vaccinated for COVID-19, the state’s health director said Thursday that the general public could get access to the shots by March.
But it will be months longer until the vaccines are expected to tame the worst pandemic in modern history.
“It’s probably still going to be a while before we have enough to return back to … normal, maybe by the summer,” Dr. Cara Christ told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show.
Christ, who was among a small group of Arizona health care professionals to get the vaccine Wednesday, said the state will be able to provide “tens of thousands” of doses per day at full capacity.
“You’ll be able to get it at pharmacies, at your doctor’s office by then,” she said. “It will be more abundant in the community.”
But first, the state is doling out its first shipments to health care workers and residents and staff at long-term care facilities, populations classified in phase 1A of the Arizona health department’s COVID-19 vaccination plan. According to the plan’s estimates, the first phase includes about 375,000 people.
“We are working to get those health care providers screened and appointments made so that they can get their vaccine,” Christ said.
“We are also working at getting our long-term care residents at our skilled nursing facilities vaccinated right away, as well.”
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the first to gain emergency approval for use in the United States, requires two shots spaced out several weeks. The Moderna vaccine, which is expected to gain approval in the coming days, also requires two shots.
A limited number of sites in Maricopa and Pima counties started giving shots to health care workers on Thursday.
Drive-thru COVID-19 vaccinations for healthcare workers are about to get underway at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. This is where they must first check in. @KTAR923 pic.twitter.com/3Udmlb9Fm4
— Griselda Zetino (@GriseldaZetino) December 17, 2020
The vaccine rollout begins while multiple coronavirus metrics are at or approaching the highest they’ve ever been in Arizona.
“We are anticipating getting our front-line health care workers vaccinated, hopefully with their first shot, by the beginning of January,” Christ said.
There are two additional priority phases to go through, representing more than half of the state’s population, before the general public can get vaccinated.
“We anticipate we will move into the next phases in January and likely get our phase 1B people mid-January, beginning of February,” Christ said.
Phase 1B, with approximately 800,000 people, includes adults with high-risk medical conditions in congregate living settings and workers whose jobs are classified as essential. That includes teachers, law enforcement, emergency responders and grocery employees, among others.
“A lot of the general public will be part of those essential workers because that incorporates transportation, food workers, power and utility companies,” Christ said.
Phase 1C includes the estimated 2.2 million adults with certain underlying medical conditions and 1.2 million Arizonans ages 65 or older.
