After delays in the previous week due to snowstorms stopping vaccine shipments, Spectrum Healthcare and Yavapai Regional Medical Center resumed vaccinations in the past week, administering over 10,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.
As of Friday, Feb. 26, over 48,000 people in Yavapai County have received at least one dose of the vaccine, with over 13,000 of those individuals having received their second dose for full vaccination.
With 20.9% of the total population having received at least a first dose, Yavapai County is significantly ahead of the state of Arizona’s average vaccination rate of 16.5%. A total of over 1.7 million doses have been allocated in the state, with the more urban counties such as Maricopa and Pima utilizing the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, which requires supercool storage, in addition to the Moderna vaccine.
The effort to vaccinate the state’s population may accelerate in the near future with the approval of a Johnson & Johnson vaccine by the Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee in a unanimous vote on Friday afternoon.
“Unlike Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines, which require two doses given three to four weeks apart, J&J’s requires only one dose, easing logistics for health care providers,” Yavapai County Community Health Services Public Information Officer Terri Farneti wrote in a Friday press release. “J&J’s vaccine can also be stored at refrigerator temperatures. Documents released Wednesday by the Food and Drug Administration indicate that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is overall safe and highly effective against serious illness, at 86%. The company is expected to deliver 20 million doses by the end of March.”
With the anticipation of new vaccine options, as well as the continued inoculations of those who signed up initially, Spectrum Healthcare is expecting to reopen signups for new vaccine appointments on March 15, which have been closed since Jan. 21 due to demand exceeding the supply of vaccines.
On Feb. 22, the office of Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced that the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, Arizona’s Medicaid agency, would be reimbursing non-emergency medical transportation to and from vaccination appointments for Medicaid recipients.
“With the increasing availability of the COVID- 19 vaccines, AHCCCS is working to ensure that Medicaid-eligible individuals have equal access to this critical health service, and that we are eliminating any potential barriers to care, whether that may be a transportation, scheduling or mobility issue,” AHCCCS Director Jami Snyder said.
After declining steadily from highs in early January, the rate of new COVID cases in the Verde Valley seems to be holding mostly steady at an average of 15 cases per day for the past week. While this is significantly lower than the peak spread of a few weeks ago, it is still a higher level of COVID-19 spread in the area than at any point before the fall wave, including the previous spike in late spring. While the area is not experiencing a surge, and the speed of vaccinations is hopefully going to prevent the possibility of a new large-scale outbreak, especially among the most vulnerable populations, COVID-19 is definitely still here, and social distancing and mask-wearing recommendations remain in effect.
As cases decline, the remnants of the previous wave nevertheless continue, as symptoms and dangerous complications can take weeks to take effect. The Verde Valley had two COVID-19 deaths in the past week. Hospitalizations are, however, significantly down, with just four COVID-19 patients at Verde Valley Medical Center as of Saturday, Feb. 27.
