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Arizona health officials say there was strong demand Thursday as the state opened COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to children ages 12 to 15.
Dr. Cara Christ, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, administers a dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Thu, May 13.
Credit Arizona Department of Health Services
Arizona-run sites in Flagstaff, Phoenix, Tucson and Yuma administered more than 6,000 doses with high demand in the late afternoon as parents brought their children for first shots of the Pfizer vaccine. Many pharmacies and providers also began administering doses to the younger age group.
More than 2.5 million people in Arizona have now been fully inoculated. Appointments can be made online through the Department of Health Services. More than 850 new known cases of COVID were reported today in Arizona along with nine more deaths.
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Across the country, healthcare workers and advocates are brainstorming ways to get the COVID-19 vaccine into the arms of the people who need it most. In Arizona, organizers launched a grassroots effort to vaccinate the state’s Holocaust survivors. An estimated 55 survivors, along with their spouses, partners and caretakers, have been vaccinated through a collaborative program run by the Phoenix Holocaust Association.
KNAU reported on this mission to vaccinate a population that’s survived war, displacement and genocide.
Frieda Allweiss was eight years old when she and her mother fled their home in Poland to escape the Nazis.
“We traveled all the way to Uzbekistan to get away from Hitler,” Allweiss remembers. “Traveled many thousands of miles to get away. And it was not easy, you know.”
File photo: State Farm Stadium, Glendale, AZ
Credit Arizona Department of Health Services
State health officials said Tuesday they were experiencing long lines outside State Farm Stadium in Glendale, citing multiple issues including increasingly hot weather. Ducey says state employees are stepping up to supplement existing paid staff and volunteers at vaccine sites. Nearly 90 additional National Guard personnel will also join the vaccination effort beginning Thursday. Yesterday, Arizona health officials reported 733 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases and 26 more deaths. But officials said about 200 of the additional cases were from records cleanups involving cases occurring over the entire pandemic.