FILE – In this January 18, 2021 file photo, an ampoule of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19 is being prepared at a vaccination center in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris. (Photo AP / Francois Mori, file)
PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Health released new details Wednesday about weather delays in COVID-19 vaccine shipments.
All Pfizer and Moderna vaccine deliveries in the state were postponed this week, but the impact on appointments for the next few days will vary by location, the department said in a press release.
All Maricopa and Pima County sites that use the Pfizer vaccine have enough doses to maintain operations, but the situation remains fluid in areas where the Moderna vaccine is used, according to the statement.
Residents with appointments in rural counties should check with local authorities for availability, according to the statement.
A Banner Health official said the state’s largest hospital system said it had enough resources to pay for the vaccine in Maricopa, Pinal and Coconino counties to cover this week’s appointments.
However, the clinical director, Dr. Marjorie Bessell, said Banner is “a little short” in Gila County and is facing potentially bigger problems in Pima County. She said Banner has enough vaccine for Wednesday’s and Thursday’s appointments in Pima County, but vaccinations Friday through Sunday “are in jeopardy if we don’t get supplies.”
Bessell said the transportation of supplies needed to make fires, such as syringes and needles, was also delayed by winter storms.
The state was allocated 176,600 doses for delivery this week, according to the statement: 85,800 Pfizer vaccines and 90,800 Moderna vaccines. According to the ADHS COVID-19 dashboard, 1,291,053 of the 1,395,300 doses allocated to the state were administered as of Wednesday morning.
Shipments of both types scheduled for Monday were not sent due to winter storms in much of the country, according to the statement. Some shipments sent over the weekend are now expected to arrive late.
Estimated time of arrival varies by location.
On Tuesday night, the state health department first revealed that shipments were delayed due to the weather and that some local health departments had to cancel appointments.
Here is Tuesday’s full statement:
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 delays, some local health departments told ADHS that they had to cancel appointments within the next two days. At this time, there appear to be sufficient doses of Pfizer available for state vaccination sites and other sites that administer Pfizer to maintain uninterrupted operations.
Here is Wednesday’s full press release:
All allocations in Arizona for both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are delayed due to the extreme weather affecting much of the rest of the country, but that doesn’t mean Arizonans who expect to be vaccinated in the next few days will necessarily see their meetings canceled.
All sites in Maricopa and Pima counties that administer the Pfizer vaccine currently have sufficient resources to maintain operations.
For other sites, the situation is fluid and will depend on the current supply of each provider. ADHS is in close contact with our federal and local partners to monitor the situation, which continues to grow.
At this time, there are sufficient doses of Pfizer available for all sites, including state PODs in Maricopa County, to keep operations uninterrupted. These PODs handle a large proportion of vaccinations in Maricopa and Pima counties, which are positioned to operate with rigorous storage requirements and the large size of the Pfizer vaccine batch.
Rural counties and some smaller suppliers in Pima and Maricopa counties administer the Moderna vaccine, which has less stringent storage requirements.
The federal government has allocated Arizona 85,800 doses of Pfizer and 90,800 doses of Moderna for a total allocation of 176,600 doses expected to be delivered nationwide this week.
The counties are the local vaccine allocators in Arizona, and specific information on any impact on appointments in each local jurisdiction would come from the individual counties. For those living in rural Arizona or who have appointments for the first or second dose at the providers that administer the Moderna vaccine, we recommend that you consult the county health department or provider.
Because shipping notifications go directly to the provider’s websites, ADHS has no specific information on when each provider can expect to receive the vaccine doses allocated for the week. Our federal partners have announced that Moderna vaccines have not been delivered on Monday due to the weather, although Moderna’s weekend deliveries are expected to be delivered today. Also, doses of Pfizer vaccine were not delivered on Monday, although federal partners reported that deliveries sent over the weekend for delivery on Monday or Tuesday should continue to be delivered.
For more information on vaccine availability at the state level, the ADHS website has a vaccine search page with a map of locations and registration information.