Arizona surpasses milestone of 2M people fully vaccinated for COVID-19

PHOENIX – Arizona’s COVID-19 prevention efforts passed an “exciting” milestone on Thursday, with more than 2 million people now fully vaccinated in the state.

“That’s a very exciting number,” Arizona Department of Health Services Director Dr. Cara Christ told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News.

Thursday morning’s update of the ADHS COVID-19 dashboard showed that 2,024,440 people have been fully vaccinated, meaning they have received either the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine or two shots of the Pfizer or Moderna versions.

“If you’ve got around 2 million and you figure there’s about 5.5 million adults in Arizona, that puts us at about … one out of three. … That’s a really good number, but obviously we’ve still got a lot of work to do,” Christ said.

On Wednesday, 1,989,114 had been documented as fully vaccinated.

Thursday’s update also showed that 4,649,390 total doses have been administered in the state, with 2,791,733 people (38.8% of the state’s total population) having received at least one shot.

“Of course, I want it to be 100%,” Christ said. “I’d love it to be 7.3 million, but that is great progress just over the three to four months that we’ve had the vaccine.”

All adults across Arizona are eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccines, with the minimum age at 16 for the Pfizer shot and 18 for the other approved versions.

For details about statewide vaccine availability, the ADHS website has a vaccine-finder page showing locations and registration information.

For information about metro Phoenix vaccine availability, Maricopa County Public Health has a locator page that lists pharmacies, government-run sites, health clinics and pop-up distribution events.

The following week’s worth of appointments for mass vaccination sites run by the state, which use Pfizer, are released every Friday at 11 a.m. Appointments can be booked online at https://podvaccine.azdhs.gov/ or by calling 844-542-8201.

The appointments at state-run sites haven’t been quickly filling like they did during the early stages of the vaccine rollout, as supply has started to meet demand.

“What we are noticing is as we’re releasing appointments at our state-run sites, they’re taking longer to fill and aren’t filling 100% like they used to,” Christ said.

Also, spots can open at any time through any provider because of cancellations and additional deliveries, so vaccine seekers should continue checking any or all of the registration options regularly.

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