Pima County shifting focus of vaccine effort to indoor sites to beat the heat

PHOENIX — Pima County announced Wednesday COVID-19 vaccine efforts would be shifted and expanded to indoor facilities or hours would be adjusted as temperatures rise.

Tucson Medical Center’s drive-through point of distribution will be changed to a walk-through site at the Morris K. Udall Center at 7200 E. Tanque Verde Rd. beginning April 19, according to a press release. First-dose patients are being informed of the change in location to receive their second dose. Registration for the site will still be available on the county’s website.

Meanwhile, the drive-through site at Banner-South Kino Stadium, 2500 E. Ajo Way, will adjust its hours on April 17 to 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Banner will reach out via a patient’s preference (text, email, phone call) to reschedule any impacted second-dose appointments.

An additional indoor COVID-19 vaccine site at the El Pueblo Center on 101 W. Irvington Rd. opened on Monday, while another indoor site at the Kino Event Center (2805 E. Ajo Way) is set to start vaccinations for the general public on April 12.

The vaccine site at the El Pueblo Center operates Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. No appointments are necessary as registration can be done on-site.

The Kino Event Center will be open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. with online registration beginning Friday.

“We reached over 500,000 vaccinations in Pima County earlier this week, and we are going to continue our momentum as temperatures rise,” Pima County Health Department Director Dr. Theresa Cullen said in the release. “All these moves will keep the community, the POD workers and the volunteers safe from the heat as we put shots into arms.”

Anyone 18 and older is eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine at any site in Pima County, as well as 16 and 17-year-olds at sites that offer the Pfizer vaccine.

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