/ Modified feb 18, 2021 5:11 p.m.

COVID-19 vaccines postponed in Pima County

Winter weather in the rest of the country is causing a vaccine shortage in southern Arizona.

360 vaccine syringes A bundle of syringes at a COVID-19 vaccination site at Tucson Medical Center. January 2021.
AZPM Staff

The City of Tucson announced that all vaccine appointments at the Tucson Convention Center scheduled for Friday, Feb. 19, were postponed due to a lack of vaccine.

City officials said the shortage is due to slower vaccine delivery caused by the deadly winter storm in the middle of the country.

Pima County officials are also warning about postponement or cancellation of appointments due to vaccine shortage.

County officials said they will begin to focus on people who need second doses of the vaccine.

The Arizona Department of Health Services is responsible for vaccine allocation across the state. Officials with the department said they are monitoring the situation.

“It sounds like our Pfizer doses got shipped out and should be arriving. The Moderna doses still have not shipped out just yet so we’re trying to maintain situational awareness and identify potentially where doses can be reallocated,” said Dr. Cara Christ, the head of the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Pima County announced it will receive 12,500 doses of COVID-19 vaccine next week, the lowest in 10 weeks. Last week, the county received 16,300 doses of the vaccine.

County officials said the drop in doses means not only the postponement of some appointments, but also mobile vaccine clinics scheduled for this weekend.

Those clinics target high-risk communities.

By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona