Nearly 8,000 vaccines administered in Yuma County amid distribution limitations

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Arizona’s top doctor held a press conference Friday afternoon, going over the latest information on vaccinating Arizonans. Currently in Yuma County, close to 8,000 vaccines have been administered so far.

Nearly 7,300 people have received the first dose and 559 people are fully protected with both doses.

Frontline and emergency workers are among those receiving the second dose.

There are new concerns tonight over the number of vaccines Maricopa County’s 24/7 vaccine site is administering.

However, Dr. Cara Christ debunking those concerns.

“We are basing our allocations on the population of the priority groups that they are in so we are dividing that out based on what Pima County's population or what some of our more rural counties may have," Dr. Christ said.

“What we want to reassure everybody is that the allocation for state farm stadium is not cutting in to other to other counties allocations,” the doctor added.

Dr. Christ says one of the limiting factors of receiving more vaccines is that the federal government controls how much each state gets.

Yuma County communications director, Kevin Tunell, also confirming these limitations.

“The trouble is, is that the supply that's coming to us. Isn't meeting that demand because we're experiencing a great amount of people that want the vaccine. So we're simply not getting enough vaccine from, how it's filtering down from the federal through the state, and we're trying to work with our state and federal partners to correct them,” Tunell said.

State health officials are urging the federal government for increased allocations.