Graham County doesn’t have enough COVID-19 vaccine yet to follow AZDHS recommendation

Photo Courtesy of Sky Schaudt/KJZZ: A card given to those who got the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at State Farm Stadium. The Pfizer vaccine requires a second dose several weeks after the first. Graham County is currently administering the Moderna two-shot vaccination to its 1B subgroups.

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SAFFORD – The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHHS) is now recommending everyone 65 years and older to be immediately eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

However, due to the size of the populations in our 1B subgroups, the amount of vaccine needed is far greater than we are receiving. At this time, we will continue our efforts to work with our community partners by vaccinating the 75 and older population, educators, first responders, and healthcare workers.  We will incorporate the newly added 65 and older population, but progress will be slow for this group due to limited allocations of vaccine and the large number of residents in the 1B group.

The number of vaccines each county receives from the CDC and ADHS is based on a population formula. Recently, all County Health Departments were notified by ADHS that their vaccine allocations may be reduced. This reduction is due to national demand for the vaccine outpacing the production.  Graham County has successfully distributed the vaccine to our residents as quickly as we have received it. 

If you are over 75 years of age and would like a COVID-19 vaccination, please call the Graham County Health Department at 428-0110 to be placed on our stand-by list.  Or, you can call your primary care physician.

If you are between 65-74 years of age and would like to sign up for a COVID-19 vaccination, please register at https://www.graham.az.gov.  We will begin vaccinating this group as early as possible, but based on the rate we have received vaccine distributions from the state, we anticipate this group to be available in March.  

In addition, when the vaccine is available to the 65 and older population, our primary care physicians will provide the COVID-19 vaccine to this age group as well. 

At this time, we are asking everyone to please be patient.  We are being advised that vaccine production will increase soon.  Our goal is to provide every resident the opportunity for the COVID-19 vaccine as quickly as can be made available.