A state vaccination site against COVID-19 opened on Monday, April 5, 2021 inside the Dexcom distribution center in Mesa, near Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. (KTAR news photo / Griselda Zetino)
PHOENIX: Next week’s batch of appointments for COVID-19 vaccines at Arizona state locations will be available at 11 a.m. Friday, as they are made each week at the same time.
Spaces can be booked online at https://podvaccine.azdhs.gov/ or by calling 844-542-8201.
State officials did not disclose how many shots could be taken at their sites, which use the two-dose Pfizer vaccine. However, the University of Arizona announced that its Tucson state site will schedule 8,900 appointments for the first doses next week.
While anyone in Arizona 16 years of age or older can opt for a vendor who uses Pfizer vaccines (they are 18 and older for the Modern and Johnson & Johnson versions), mandatory appointments are becoming easier to find as supplies are offered and the number of people already inoculated. go up.
“What I think we’re seeing right now is that supply is starting to meet demand,” Dr. Cara Christ, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, during a press conference Monday.
As of Friday morning, about 4 million doses of vaccine had been administered in Arizona, and state-administered sites gave up 28% of the shots, according to the ADVS COVID-19 dashboard.
The state is running a public service ad campaign that encourages people to get vaccinated. Christ said he hopes this will help alleviate the problem of hesitation.
“But we anticipate that demand will start to decline a bit,” he added.
Meanwhile, the state continues to adjust its vaccine disbursement program to take into account rising temperatures.
The state-run parking lot at Glendale State Farm, which this week went from service 24 hours a day to 7 days a week (5pm to 9am) this week, is is heading into its last two weeks of operations. On April 23, it will be replaced by an access site inside the nearby Gila River Arena.
By then, there will be no state-run outdoor mass vaccination sites in the Phoenix subway.
The Chandler-Gilbert Community College parking operation closed last week and was replaced Monday by the state’s first covered parking lot, located in Mesa, at the Dexcom distribution center near Phoenix-Mesa Airport. Gateway.
On Thursday, the state announced that parking operations at Phoenix Municipal Stadium will cease this weekend and will be replaced on Monday by a site located at Arizona State University’s Desert Financial Arena, about 3 miles away. a Tempe.
The state also announced this week that on April 22 it would open a covered venue at WestWorld of Scottsdale.
Unless other changes are made, the University of Arizona will be the only state-run outdoor service site, although the state has a heat plan to potentially move it to the state. inside next month. The state’s second out-of-Phoenix area was launched on March 29 inside the Yuma Civic Center.
On Friday afternoon, officials announced that Northern Arizona’s first statewide location will open on April 19 at the University of Northern Arizona’s University Union Fieldhouse in Flagstaff.
For information on vaccine availability throughout the state, the ADHS website has a vaccine search engine page that shows locations and registration information.
For details on the availability of the Phoenix subway, Maricopa County Public Health has a location page that includes pharmacies, government-run sites, health clinics, and pop-up distribution events.
Additional sites may be opened at any time through any provider due to additional cancellations and deliveries, so vaccine applicants should continue to regularly check some or all of the registration options.
Griselda Zetino of KTAR News 92.3 FM contributed to this report.