Courtesy photo.
COCONINO COUNTY — The Coconino County Board of Supervisors heard the message clearly at Tuesday’s board meeting: Coconino County’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts are hampered by the lack of available vaccine doses.
Coconino County Interim Health and Human Services Director Kim Musselman informed the Board that the County and medical partners have capacity to administer approximately 1,300 doses of vaccine daily but give fewer than 400 doses each day due to the lack of supply.
“Our County response team and partners have done a great job at building capacity to vaccinate our community quickly. For all of us, the biggest frustration is the lack of vaccine supply which renders us unable to procure and administer the number of doses demanded by our community. We cannot schedule appointments and give people a shot until a dependable schedule of vaccine delivery is made available to the County,” Musselman explained.
Coconino County Health and Human Services (CCHHS) leaders explained that the County learns weekly, usually on Thursdays, how many doses it will receive for the next week. The lack of predictability does not allow the County to anticipate how many appointments to make available. To date, any “new” shipments of vaccine that arrive weekly have been small amounts, usually less than 1,500 total, to spread between all County operations and partners for that week.
“The bottom line is that we do not have enough vaccine doses to meet the demand or the capacity in Coconino County. We have reviewed the President’s Executive Orders which are helpful changes, but it will take weeks, if not months to accelerated vaccine distribution. We want the public to know that we understand your frustration and we encourage people to call their federal and state representatives to intervene and assist us,” Chairman Matt Ryan commented on behalf of the Board of Supervisors.
Residents can find phone numbers for federal and state officials along with vaccine data and availability on the COVID-19 vaccine webpage at coconino.az.gov/covid19vaccine. At the same link, those eligible can check appointment availability and book a vaccine appointment. Those without Internet access or who need help scheduling an appointment can contact the COVID Information line at 928-679-7300.