Since mid-December, when the first Pfizer vaccines reached Arizona, ADHS has been working with our local county health departments and tribes to get the COVID-19 vaccine distributed to vulnerable Arizonans as quickly as possible. To further this goal, Arizona recently adopted a hybrid model prioritizing those at highest risk due to age and our frontline [...]
It has been almost a year since ADHS launched our COVID-19 dashboard. Since then, our dashboard has undergone many enhancements and has had new sections added. Our reporting regarding this disease continues to evolve as we collect additional data and learn about which data elements are most useful to understand how COVID-19 is impacting Arizonans. [...]
Over the past few months, you may have heard me call COVID-19 vaccines the light at the end of the tunnel. As more and more Arizonans get the Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccines, we will start to see life returning to normal. That light is getting brighter by the day. New guidance released [...]
Earlier this week, State Farm Stadium hosted President Biden and Vice President Harris for a virtual tour of our vaccination site. Arizona’s state-operated vaccination sites have been identified as a national model. Since Jan. 11, the two state-operated sites have accounted for more than 20% of the total vaccines administered to date, statewide. In addition, [...]
This week, Arizona celebrated the milestone of more than 1 million doses of vaccine administered by the state, counties and health care providers. While this is a significant achievement, vaccination sites have capacity to vaccinate even more Arizonans if additional vaccine doses are made available by federal partners. Since Arizona is a “home rule” state [...]
On Monday I had the honor of taking President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on a virtual tour of our State Farm Stadium vaccination site in Glendale. During the tour, the vice president raised an issue that many people share. Here’s a lightly edited version of our exchange: THE VICE PRESIDENT: Hi, Doctor. [...]
A public service announcement featuring Governor Doug Ducey and Dr. Richard Carmona, 17th U.S. Surgeon General and the governor’s adviser on public health preparedness, is now airing on Arizona television stations in addition to social media and streaming media. I hope you’ll heed their advice to help protect yourself and others from COVID-19: Get vaccinated [...]
Throughout the COVID-19 response, our goal has been to provide real-time data on all aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including cases, hospitalizations, laboratory results, and vaccines. Ensuring rapid distribution of vaccine to high-risk groups is a critical component of public health during a pandemic response. Surveillance of vaccine administration data is especially important when trying [...]
Last week, I had the privilege of being among a group of healthcare workers receiving some of the first COVID-19 vaccinations in Arizona. This was during an event held at ADHS. I was inspired by the reasons these professionals gave for wanting to get vaccinated right away, whether it was keeping patients, family, and friends [...]
On Friday, December 11, the FDA announced its approval of an emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met on Saturday, December 12, and recommended the vaccine for people age 16 and older. This week, the first doses of COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Arizona. The first vaccine clinics [...]
