On Thursday, Jan. 14, teachers and staff at Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District came to the district office to receive their first doses of the Moderna vaccine for COVID-19, administered by nurses from the Yavapai County Education Service Agency, with help from Cottonwood firefighters.
“This is one of the most hopeful days that I’ve had in 10 months,” Superintendent Steve King told the district’s governing board at a meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 12. “People are hopeful. That’s what we have to offer.”
According to King, 198 people signed up for the optional vaccine with others choosing to wait.
King expects that several more will get vaccinated in the near future, including on Feb. 16 and 17, when COCSD staff are scheduled to get their second rounds of inoculations needed for immunity via vaccine.
“I was hesitant about taking it, but I think thought this isn’t just about me,” said Jayne Lee, a junior high science teacher at Cottonwood Community School. Lee said she was worried about potential side effects, especially with the vaccine developed so fast. ”It’s my students, and my family, and the people I work with.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, side effects of receiving the Moderna vaccine are mild, with potential pain and swelling in the arm where the shot was administered, and chills, tiredness and headache through the rest of the body, but only for a day or two after administration.
Everyone interviewed at this event said that receiving the shot was painless.
Other schools in the area are beginning their vaccinations as well this week. Sedona-Oak Creek School District began administering shots on Jan. 12, while Clarkdale-Jerome School District began on Jan. 19, at the COCSD office. Camp Verde Unified School District is beginning vaccinations on Jan. 28, according to Superintendent Danny Howe.
As schools are added to the vaccine pool, shots are continuing to be administered to other essential workers in the area. Skilled nursing facilities in the Verde Valley have now been vaccinated, with Haven of Camp Verde on Dec. 28, Haven of Sedona on Jan. 6 and 7, and Haven of Cottonwood on Jan. 13. Vaccinations were administered through Walgreens.
“The patients are excited to get the vaccine,” Haven of Cottonwood Assistant Director of Nursing Sabrina Conway said. “They’ve been ready as soon as they heard it was coming out. They’ve been asking us when we’re getting it, so it’s been a very positive thing for them, because they’re hoping now that if we have it, things will start going back to normal.”
“They’ve been put through a lot, they’ve been isolated, they haven’t been able to see their families,” Haven of Camp Verde Executive Director Johnny Cochran said of his residents. “This was that little bit of hope that they needed to say that they’re that much closer to being able to get back to normal, so it’s huge.”
Both Haven of Cottonwood and Haven of Camp Verde reported no in-house COVID cases over the past 10 months, and are now less inclined to with staff and patients beginning to be immunized.
Law enforcement and fire and medical staff in the area are beginning to be vaccinated as well, though unlike teachers and nursing homes that are receiving vaccinations all at once on a scheduled date, they are being administered on a rolling basis.
“As we are not requiring the vaccine for employees, they have been free to schedule their own times to get it,” Copper Canyon Fire & Medical Authority Chief Terry Keller said. “So far, I have only had nine employees of 55 that I am aware of that have received the vaccine, and we have had 11 that have been positive for the virus, so between both groups, we’re are a bit over one third of our staff who might now be protected. Most have been going to either the hospitals in Prescott, or VVMC, but a few have also gone to Spectrum Healthcare in Cottonwood.”
On Jan. 13, the Arizona Department of Health Services announced that starting on Tuesday, Jan. 19, individuals older age 65 will be authorized to be vaccinated, even if they are not in a priority designation. Fry’s and Safeway are expected to join other pharmacies in administering vaccinations to the general population.
However, according to Yavapai County Community Health Services Public Information Officer Terri Farneti, supplies of the vaccine in the area are not yet enough to begin doing so.
“At this point, we don’t have enough vaccine to publicize our community partners who are assisting with vaccines,” Farneti said. “Appointments are full with just us sending it out to the phase 1A and and 1B category that have opened up so far… They’re getting inundated with calls, and they are not set up yet. It’s not until sometime next week.”
Assisted living facilities, which are supposed to be in the first phase of vaccinations, are still having trouble receiving their first round of shots, even if they have tried to schedule with local pharmacies.
“[We have found out] only that they would be scheduling our clinic sometime between now and the end of February,” Dione Cozens, owner of Page Springs Living and Agape Terrace Assisted Living, wrote in an email. “I’m not too happy about that.”
As of Friday, Jan. 15, the Arizona Department of Health Services reported that Yavapai County had vaccinated 4,871 people, 2.1% of the county’s total population. While this is more than double the number vaccinated a week before, the county lags behind some other counties in the state, with neigh- boring Coconino County having hit 5.5%.
With their first vaccinations on Jan. 23, staff at Verde Valley Medical Center are soon reaching the time frame to receive their second doses of shots needed for immunity.
There were 426 new positive COVID cases in the Verde Valley between Jan. 8 and Friday, Jan. 15, lower than record highs, with 11 Verde Valley residents dying, for a total of 90 deaths in the area since March.
