Yuma County to receive more Johnson & Johnson vaccine

Ramped up production promises larger shipments - CBS 13's Cody Lee reports

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - The Director of the Yuma County Public Health Department (YCPHD) says the county could get more and more doses of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine as production ramps up.

The state's top doctor, Dr. Cara Christ, and YCPHD Director Diana Gomez both say the single-dose shot works are better suited to rural areas, like Yuma County, because its storage requirements are much less complicated, the the Pfizer version. It requires special super-cold freezers.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine arrived in Yuma County for the first time earlier this week. However, the county only received a few doses. Now President Joe Biden says he plans to purchase 100 million doses to build the country's vaccine stock.
 
There are also new plans in the works to convert the Yuma Civic Center site into a 24-hour mass vaccination clinic to provide more appointments for residents.

“We are in active conversation with the state health department and again it all depends on vaccine availability because the infrastructure is in place, we have the clinical partners in the capacity to do something like that. We have people that are willing to donate the site we have staff on board, so we just need higher amounts of vaccine and that's really what's been holding this up," Diana Gomez explains.

Gomez says once more than 50% of our senior citizen population is vaccinated, the county will move into the next phase and age group. This as part of a hybrid vaccine distribution model implemented by the state. Gomez also tells 13 On Your Side those 55 to 64 could start being vaccinated as early as next week.

Meanwhile, Sunset Health is one of four health centers in the state that will start receiving vaccine doses from the federal government as part of a new Biden administration program.