State gets into the shot business in Yuma County

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - The state of Arizona and Yuma Regional Medical Center (YRMC) kicked off a partnership Monday, that's already speeding up the distribution of coronavirus vaccines in Yuma County.

YRMC and the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) have expanded the existing site at the Yuma Civic Center. It will now offer shots seven days a week, from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m.

News 11's Crystal Jimenez was there bring and early for the launch.

Vaccines are available by appointment only. No walk-ins will be accepted. Appointments are available through the ADHS.

YRMC estimates it will distribute nearly 8,000 vaccines a week, however, during launch week close to 6,300 people will be vaccinated with their first dose of the Pfizer shot.

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The vaccination site is a partnership between Governor Doug Ducey, the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS), Yuma County, the City of Yuma, and YRMC.

“No words of praise can adequately reflect the depth of my gratitude to the YRMC team for stepping up to the challenge to make vaccinations a priority in our community,” said Dr. Bharat Magu, Chief Medical Officer at Yuma Regional Medical Center. “Now we are looking forward to partnering with the State of Arizona to help bring more needed vaccines to one of the states hardest-hit areas. The next few months will shape the future of protection against COVID-19 in our community.”

“Arizona’s vaccination sites have been instrumental in the state’s work to protect communities and vulnerable populations,” said Governor Ducey. “We want to make sure rural areas have easy access to vaccinations, and operations at the Yuma site will support those efforts. I’m grateful to ADHS, Yuma County, the City of Yuma, and Yuma Regional Medical Center for their work to protect Arizonans and expand vaccine availability.”

“We are thrilled to work with Yuma County leaders to expand our highly successful state vaccination sites beyond the Phoenix and Tucson areas,” said ADHS Director Dr. Cara Christ. “This builds on Yuma County’s strong efforts to vaccinate its population and positions southwestern Arizona to expand vaccination as our federal supply grows.”

YRMC says it still has available appointments left for those who reach the call center.

You can make your appointment by dialing 1-844-542-8201 or click here to register online.

Major General Michael McGuire visited the Yuma Civic Center Monday to view the progress of the new facility.

Major McGuire tells News 11's Crystal Jimenez it took a while to get the state-run facility up and running due to production issues with Moderna.

CBS 13's Cody Lee got an exclusive look at the freezers that hold the Pfizer shot.

Kristina McNair is running the show. Making sure everything is smoothly executed.

McNair explained how the freezers work, “It’s supposed to be between -80 and -59. If it goes lower than -82, or it goes higher than the -66.9, it starts to send us alerts to say, you need to take an action.”

“Pfizer has been able to meet the demand signal as we ratcheted up the request. And so once we could exceed the thousand doses, we couldn’t have exceeded that with Moderna." said Major General McGuire. "So we said what if we pivoted to Pfizer here in Yuma. We can get you additional doses at a higher rate with that supply chain.”

Now that more people are eligible for the vaccine, we noticed many young people lining up to roll up their sleeve including Abigail Wynn, who cares for her grandfather.

“My grandfather who's 86 years old and from the area. So I'm kind of like his full time caretaker. He already has got the vaccine both doses, but he wanted me to get my vaccine as well and figured that it would be important as soon as it became available to me to come get it,” Wynn said.

Those who originally received the Moderna vaccine and have yet not received it's second dose will still be able to do so as planned. Eventually the Moderna vaccine will be phased out and everyone coming to the state site will be getting Pfizer.

To learn more on the eligibility, click here.