Arizona’s top doctor Cara Christ gives update on vaccine distribution
State sending nurses to address staffing concerns at hospitals amid rise in COVID-19 patients
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - The Arizona Department of Health Services director says more COVID-19 vaccines are heading to Yuma County.
On Wednesday, AZDHS Dr. Cara Christ said vaccine doses arrived at 15 counties this week, with 1,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine sent to Yuma.
Dr. Christ said, "In addition to more doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccine, we expect to receive the additional second doses of Pfizer vaccine so that we can start vaccinating those who have received their first dose during that initial week that we had vaccinations available."
Dr. Christ also said Arizona is not seeing a weekly increase in the number of infections similar to what health officials saw following Thanksgiving gatherings.
However, Dr. Christ did say the agency is anticipating an increase in cases in about one to two weeks due to gatherings from Christmas and New Years'.
In response to the holiday surge in coronavirus patients, Arizona is sending more than 300 nurses to hospitals across the state. The move comes amid staffing challenges facing many hospitals due to an influx of COVID-19 infections, with ICU bed capacity being just one of many hurdles.
"Through the end of January, we will actually be bringing in about 820 to 900 nurses in total. So nurses have been arriving week by week, but our largest goal is definitely next week with over 300 nurses scheduled to arrive to Arizona hospitals. We also have a federal medical request that is arriving to the Yuma area, so we are starting to see increased staffing come in", said Dr. Christ.
In addition to more Pfizer and Moderna doses being made available across the state, AZDHS said the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine would be distributed. However, it's not clear what the distribution will look like and when Yuma County will be receiving its allocated shipment.
In a tweet on Wednesday, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey called for an executive order to expedite the vaccine distribution.
Across the country, news of delays in distributing the #COVID19 vaccine are being reported. While Arizona has avoided many of these issues, any delay in shots being given to Arizonans is unacceptable. 1/
— Doug Ducey (@dougducey) December 30, 2020
RELATED STORY: Gov. Doug Ducey issues executive order to speed up COVID-19 vaccine
In response, Dr. Christ said her agency is actively working with local health departments to find ways to make sure vaccines are being administered faster.
