Arizona health officials talk about availability of second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine

PHOENIX – Since January 16, Arizona ranks first in the country in Cases of covid-19 and all eyes are on vaccine launch, which remains slower than initially expected.

The state announced earlier this week that it would be expanding Phase 1B of the vaccine distribution to include people aged 65 to 74.

“The bottom line is that there are a lot of people in Category 1B. A lot more people than we have a vaccine available for,” said Will Humble, executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association.

He adds: “The more people you add, the less likely you will be able to schedule these people to follow up on the second vaccine.”

He says there were already about a million people in phase 1B, which means that the state would need about two million doses. Then you consider the follow-up booster injection, which needs to be given just three to four weeks later.

Now taking into account the population aged 65 and over, this means that an additional 250,000 people are added to the mix.

“You are adding 250,000 to the additional million. It just creates saturation within that category,” said Humble.

Arizona Department of Health Services director Dr. Cara Christ said at a news conference this week that the state is distributing vaccines to local partners and taking into account the need for a second dose when making any changes.

“We received our doses so that we can continue to vaccinate those who have already received the first dose and have had a waiting period of 21 or 28 days,” said Christ.

If you make the first attempt and are unable to make an appointment for the second, you still have some degree of protection, says Humble, but nowhere near as much protection as if you had both.

For more information on COVID-19 vaccines in Arizona, visit this link.

MAP: Arizona Coronavirus cases by postal code

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