Vaccine distribution is facing slowdowns weeks after beginning.
After opening up COVID-19 vaccinations to members of the general public 65 years old and over on Jan. 19, Spectrum Healthcare promptly had to halt new appointments within two days due to a limited number of doses of the Moderna vaccine.
According to Terri Farneti, public information officer for Yavapai County Community Health Services, the county received 12,000 doses from the Arizona Department Health Services for the week of Jan. 25, but received just 5,000 the week after. She expects even fewer for the coming week.
“I don’t think it’s a vindictive thing, but it is killing us,” Farneti said. “The fact is that we’re getting much less. There is a shortage of vaccine, and we’re having to pause appointments until we’re getting a better allocation from the state. We’re not going to try to point fingers or anything, but that is basically where we’re at.”
Spectrum has continued to admin- ister vaccinations, as has Yavapai Regional Medical Center in Prescott. Spectrum did not respond to requests for comment.
Assisted living facilities are expected to begin receiving their first doses of vaccines this week from chain pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens, more than a month after the first vaccinations in Arizona, despite assisted living facilities originally being labeled as Phase 1A by the state of Arizona, meaning they would have received the vaccine right after health care workers.
However, the state ended up not authorizing assisted living facilities until Jan. 18.
“We will finish first doses for 50% of the 845 facilities of this type over the coming week, bringing peace of mind to thousands of residents, staff and their loved ones,” Monica Prinzing, senior communications consultant for CVS, wrote in an email.
Safeway hopes to begin administering COVID-19 vaccinations as well, but not all locations have it yet. Cottonwood’s Safeway location does not expect to have the vaccine until March, though Sedona’s location has some doses. Scheduling is, however, through the county, which is not taking new appointments due to supply issues.
Fry’s in Cottonwood also has received doses of the vaccine, and, as of Friday afternoon, still has enough supply to sign up new appointments. Individuals age 65 years or older can go to frysfood.com/covidvaccine totry to sign up.
There have been attempts by some local health care providers to get involved in administering shots, but lack of supply as well as administrative hurdles have stopped them from being able to so far.
“While we have the manpower or the woman power or the nursing power to do it, I can’t seem to find the administrative power to do it,” said Michael Berlowe, executive director of Maggie’s Hospice in Prescott, who is hoping his staff can help with assisted living facilities in the Verde Valley.
Verde Valley Medical Center is also hoping to begin participating in vaccinations for the general population soon, but it is currently waiting on vaccine supply before beginning.
“Verde Valley Medical Center has an adequate supply of Moderna vaccines to complete staff vaccinations,” VVMC Chief Medical Officer Leon Pontikes wrote in an email. “Northern Arizona Healthcare is obtaining vaccination for our upcoming community-based [Phase] 1B vaccination programs in Coconino and Yavapai counties.”
“It’s just very disheartening for the whole county,” Farneti said. “Anybody who has it is trying to get it into people’s arms.”
Despite the delays, the accumulated number of people in the county who have been vaccinated has hit 14,260 as of Jan. 28, nearing the 16,408 people who have tested positive for the virus.
While vaccine distribution has had its troubles in the area, the past week has seen good news on the COVID front in terms of cases. After several weeks that reached highs in new cases, the week from Friday, Jan. 22, through Friday, Jan 29, saw 216 new cases in the Verde Valley, significantly below the nearly 600 cases per week that the valley was experiencing in early January. Five people in the Verde Valley died of the virus in the past week, fewer than previous weeks.
“Yavapai County was updated for the two weeks ending Jan. 10 indicating a decrease in cases per 100,000 from 637 per 100,000 to 474 per 100,000, a decrease in percent positivity form 24% to 20.8%, and a decrease in hospitalizations for COVID-like illnesses from 22.2% to 20.2%,” Farneti wrote in her Jan. 29 update. “YCCHS is hopeful this trend continues. It is important to continue with the CDC mitigation measures — wearing masks, washing your hands and making sure that you keep space between you and the next person.”
However, public health leaders worry that the lower numbers may be a result of testing delays due to the snow storm early in the week and may be misleading. They also stress that there have not been nearly enough vaccinations in the area to reach herd immunity, and the likelihood that the vaccinations are causing the decline in cases is low.
“It’s going to take a while to get herd immunity,” Farneti said, stressing as well the need to continue taking precautions. “I know people are very excited to get the shot.”
