FILE – In this file photo from January 18, 2021, a vial containing the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 is being prepared at a vaccination center in the 3rd district, in Paris. (AP Photo / Francois Mori, File)
PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Health Services released new details on Wednesday about weather-related delays in shipping COVID-19 vaccines.
All shipments of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines from the state have been delayed this week, but the impact on the appointments for the coming days will vary by location, the department said in a press release.
All of the sites in Maricopa and Pima that use the Pfizer vaccine have doses sufficient to maintain surgery, but the situation remains fluid in areas where the Moderna vaccine is used, according to the publication.
Residents with appointments in rural counties should check availability with local authorities according to the release.
A top official at Banner Health said the state’s largest hospital system said there was enough supply for vaccine disbursements in Maricopa, Pinal and Coconino counties to cover this week’s appointments.
However, Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Marjorie Bessell said Banner is “a bit small” in Gila County and may have bigger problems in Pima County. She said Banner has enough vaccine for Wednesday and Thursday appointments in Pima County, but vaccinations on Friday and Sunday “are at risk if we don’t get supplies.”
Bessell said the shipment of supplies needed to give the photos, such as syringes and needles, has also been delayed due to winter storms.
The state was assigned 176,600 doses for delivery this week, according to the release: 85,800 Pfizer vaccines and 90,800 Moderna vaccines. According to the ADHS COVID-19 dashboard, as of Wednesday morning, 1,291,053 of the state’s 1,395,300 assigned doses had been administered.
Shipments of both types scheduled to go out Monday were not shipped due to winter storms in much of the country, according to the publication. Some shipments shipped on weekends are now expected to arrive late.
Estimated arrival times vary by location.
On Tuesday evening, the state health department revealed for the first time that shipments had been delayed due to weather and that some local health departments had to cancel appointments.
Here was Tuesday’s full statement:
The extreme winter weather affecting much of the rest of the country has delayed the delivery of COVID-19 vaccine doses to Arizona this week. Due to these weather-related delays, some local health departments have told ADHS to cancel appointments in the next two days. At this point, it appears that sufficient Pfizer doses are available to state vaccination sites and other sites administering Pfizer to continue operations without interruption.
Here’s Wednesday’s full press release:
All allocations of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines in Arizona are being delayed due to the extreme weather affecting much of the rest of the country, but that doesn’t mean that Arizonans expecting vaccination in the next few days will necessarily make their appointments see it canceled.
All sites in Maricopa and Pima counties that administer the Pfizer vaccine currently have adequate supplies to continue operations.
For other sites, the situation is variable and depends on the current offer of each provider. ADHS is in close contact with our federal and local partners to monitor the situation as it continues to evolve.
At this time, enough Pfizer doses are available at all locations, including state PODs in Maricopa County, to maintain operation without interruption. These PODs process much of the vaccinations in Maricopa and Pima counties, which are positioned to meet stringent storage requirements and high volumes of the Pfizer vaccine.
Rural counties and some smaller suppliers in Pima and Maricopa counties are administering the Moderna vaccine, which has less stringent storage requirements.
The federal government has allocated 85,800 Pfizer doses and 90,800 Moderna doses to Arizona for a total allocation of 176,600 doses expected to be delivered to the state this week.
Counties are the local dispatchers of vaccines throughout Arizona, and specific information about any implications for appointments in each local jurisdiction would come from the individual counties. For those who live in rural Arizona or have first or second dose appointments with providers who administer the Moderna vaccine, we recommend that you contact your district health department or the appropriate provider.
Because shipping notifications go directly to the provider’s sites, ADHS has no specific information on when each provider can expect this week’s assigned vaccine doses. Our federal partners have communicated that Moderna vaccines were not shipped on Mondays due to weather, although Moderna shipments from the weekend intended for Monday delivery are expected to be delivered today. Pfizer’s vaccine doses were also not shipped on Mondays, although federal partners have advised that shipments shipped on the weekend for Monday or Tuesday delivery should still be delivered.
For more information on vaccine availability statewide, the ADHS website has a vaccine finder page with a map of locations and registration information.