MOHAVE COUNTY – Mohave County will have received 58,200 doses of COVID-19 vaccine by this Wednesday, March 17. The total number of doses provided for use in northwest Arizona will exceed 69,000 when you factor in another 11,010 doses that federal authorities have provided directly to 13 pharmacies in the county.
“We will be receiving an additional 800 doses this week, in addition to the 8,000 that we were allocated last week,” Department of Public Health Director Denise Burley told the board of supervisors Monday. She said the county is benefiting from a transfer of doses not being used in another jurisdiction.
Burley said some of the participating pharmacies have had greater freedom to serve more eligible classes of people, including those above 55 years of age. Burley said the county is still administering to higher priority tier groups and is focused on those above 65.
“36% of those individuals have received at least one vaccine,” Burley said. “Our strategy here is that when we approach that 50% level, or we see a reduction in demand, we’ll transition and open up to another phase.”
Burley said her department has heard about an equal amount of frustration from those 65 and up struggling to schedule an appointment and those 55 and up wishing they were deemed eligible to receive the vaccine.
Burley said only about 70 of 300 available doses were used during a Saturday vaccination clinic in the north county community of Littlefield. “It may be more prudent for us to wait until we expand the eligible population before scheduling activities in these smaller communities,’’ she said.
Burley noted 500 first round Moderna shots will be administered during a Wednesday clinic in Lake Havasu City. A second round shot event will trail there in a month.
Dist. 2 Sup. Hildy Angius expressed some skepticism about the intensity and effectiveness of the county contact tracing effort.
“Is it really necessary? What has a whole year of information gotten us,” Angius queried. “I’ve never been told by somebody that they got a call from the county telling them that they’ve been exposed.”
Burley assured Angius and the Board that contact tracing work has been performed. She said the confidential data has statistical value.
Dave Hawkins