Graham County to open up COVID-19 vaccine to all residents 18 years and older

Photo Courtesy of Sky Schaudt/KJZZ: A worker prepares to administer the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on Tuesday. Recipients get their shot through a car window.

Photo Courtesy of Sky Schaudt/KJZZ: A worker prepares to administer the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at State Farm Stadium in Glendale. Graham County has opened registration for any resident 18 years and older who wants to get the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine starting Monday, March 22.

Staff Reports

SAFFORD – The Graham County Department of Health and Human Services has announced that starting Monday, March 22, any resident of Graham County who is 18 years old or older will be eligible to receive a vaccine for COVID-19.

Those who would like a COVID-19 vaccination should contact their primary care physician or schedule an appointment with the health department by clicking here

Those who schedule appointments will currently be given the two-shot Moderna vaccine at the Graham County Health Department Vaccination Center at 627 W. Main Street in Downtown Safford. 

The health department will announce a clinic for the one-shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine at a later date. 

While the Pfizer and Moderna two-shot vaccines utilize messenger RNA, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine works through a different mechanism and uses the more traditional DNA, which is introduced to the nucleus of cells with an adenovirus which is modified so it cannot replicate itself and cause disease. All three vaccines have been approved for use by the federal government and have safety records in good standing. All prompt the body to produce T-cells, which retain a memory of the protein and attack it. 

“We would like to thank everyone for their support as we have navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic this past year,” said Graham County Health Department Director Brian Douglas.

Greenlee County  

Gila Health Resources in Greenlee County will hold a COVID-19 vaccine drive at the Morenci Club Hall at 314 Plaza Dr. in Morenci on Friday, March 19, from 1 – 8 p.m.

At the vaccine drive, any adult resident of Greenlee County or those who work in Greenlee County can show up to receive a dose of the Moderna vaccine with no appointment or registration necessary.