FILE: In this photo from the file of January 18, 2021, a bottle of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 is being prepared in a vaccination center in the 3rd district, in Paris. (Photo AP / Francois Mori, file)
PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Health Services released new details Wednesday about climate-related delays in COVID-19 vaccine shipments.
All Pfizer and Moderna vaccine shipments in the state were delayed this week, but the impact on appointments in the coming days will vary by location, according to the department in a press release.
All Maricopa and Pima County sites that use the Pfizer vaccine have enough doses to maintain operations, but the situation remains fluid in areas where the Modern vaccine is used, according to the statement.
According to the statement, residents by appointment in rural counties should check with local authorities for availability.
A senior Banner Health official said the state’s largest hospital system said it had enough supply for its vaccine disbursement in Maricopa, Pinal and Coconino counties to cover this week’s appointments.
However, the clinical director, Dr. Marjorie Bessell, said Banner is “slightly short” in Gila County and has potentially bigger problems in Pima County. He said Banner has enough vaccine for Wednesday and Thursday appointments in Pima County, but Friday-Sunday vaccines “are at risk if we don’t get supply.”
Bessell said the shipment of supplies needed to make the shots, such as syringes and needles, has also been delayed by winter storms.
According to the statement, the state was allocated 176,600 doses to be delivered this week: 85,800 Pfizer vaccines and 90,800 Moderna vaccines. According to the ADVS COVID-19 scorecard, as of Wednesday morning, 1,291,053 of the 1,395,300 assigned doses in the state had been administered.
According to the statement, shipments of both types scheduled to leave Monday were not shipped due to winter storms in much of the country. Some shipments sent over the weekend are expected to arrive late.
Estimated arrival times vary by location.
On Tuesday evening, the state health department revealed for the first time that shipments were delayed due to the weather and that some local health departments had to cancel appointments.
Here is Tuesday’s full statement:
The extreme winter weather affecting much of the rest of the country has delayed this week’s delivery of COVID-19 vaccine doses to Arizona. Due to these weather-related delays, some local health departments have informed ADHS that they had to cancel appointments within the next two days. At this time, there appear to be sufficient doses available of Pfizer for state vaccination sites and other sites administered by Pfizer to keep operations uninterrupted.
Here is Wednesday’s full press release:
All Arizona allocations for both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are delayed due to the extreme weather affecting much of the rest of the country, but that doesn’t mean Arizona residents waiting for vaccination in the next few days will see necessarily their appointments canceled.
Currently, all Maricopa and Pima counties that administer the Pfizer vaccine have enough supply to maintain operations.
For other sites, the situation is fluid and will depend on the current supply of each supplier. ADHS is in close contact with our federal and local partners to monitor the situation, which continues to develop.
At this time, there are enough doses of Pfizer available for all sites, including state PODs in Maricopa County, to keep operations uninterrupted. These PODs manage a large proportion of vaccinations in Maricopa and Pima counties, which are in a position to work with the rigorous storage requirements and large batch sizes of the Pfizer vaccine.
Rural counties and some smaller suppliers in Pima and Maricopa counties administer the Modern vaccine, which has less stringent storage requirements.
The federal government has allocated Arizona 85,800 doses of Pfizer and 90,800 doses of Modern for a total allocation of 176,600 doses expected to be delivered to the state this week.
Counties are local vaccine distributors throughout Arizona and specific information about any impact on appointments in each local jurisdiction would come from individual counties. For those living in rural Arizona or who have appointments for the first or second dose to the providers who administer the Modern Vaccine, we recommend that you consult with your county health department or the provider in question.
Because shipping notifications go directly to the provider’s sites, ADHS has no specific information on when each provider can expect to receive the assigned vaccine doses this week. Our federal partners have reported that Moderna vaccines were not shipped Monday due to the weather, although Moderna shipments for the weekend scheduled for Monday delivery are expected to be delivered today. Pfizer vaccine doses were also not shipped Monday, though federal partners have reported that shipments that are shipped over the weekend for Monday or Tuesday delivery have yet to be delivered.
For more information on statewide vaccine availability, the ADHS website has a vaccine search page with a map of locations and registration information.