(KTAR News Photo / Tyler Bassett)
PHOENIX – Arizona’s first indoor drive-thru mass vaccination site COVID-19 will open next month in southeastern Mesa, authorities confirmed on Friday.
The new site will be operated by Dexcom at 8046 E. Ray Road, near Loop 202 Santan Freeway, near Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.
It will open on April 5 and replace the state-run site at Chandler-Gilbert Community College, which will end operations on April 3.
Since March 14, people who received the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine at the Chandler site have been scheduled for the second dose in Mesa.
“We are grateful for the support of Dexcom and other partners to make this internal website a reality and maintain our momentum by providing vaccines for Arizonans,” said ADHS director, Dr. Cara Christ, in a press release.
“Patients, staff and volunteers will also be grateful, as we are approaching the point where operating outdoors will become dangerous with rising temperatures.”
About 30,000 square feet of Dexcom’s 500,000 square foot regional distribution center will be used for vaccine operation by June 30, according to the statement. Dexcom manufactures glucose monitoring products for people with diabetes.
The Bureau location will operate daily from 7 am to 5 pm, with 3,000 to 4,000 appointments per day to start. It has the capacity to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week and administer 12,000 doses a day, according to the statement.
Christ revealed plans to move from Chandler to Mesa last week, but details of the new operation were not confirmed until Friday.
She also said last week that State Farm Stadium in Glendale, the state’s only 24/7 site, will stop operations at midnight on April 3 and become a night spot from 4 Of april. The site will distribute vaccines daily from 5 to 5 pm. 9 am
Christ said the state is still evaluating the indoor options in the West Valley to compensate for daytime vaccinations when things heat up.
The Chandler-Gilbert Community College website was launched as a county-run operation. It was transferred to a state-run website on March 3.