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(Christophe Archambault / Pool photo via AP)
PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Health Services changed its coronavirus immunization totals on Thursday, saying the changes came from taking the time to validate data received by the department.
“The new validated issue becomes the basis for an ongoing, real-time report,” ADHS Director Dr Cara Christ said in a blog post. “In the meantime, finding duplicates in the data fixes the issues and improves the real-time data we report daily.”
Christ noted that unlike coronavirus cases and deaths, both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine require “additional steps for data matching and deduplication.”
“Like the first time we completed our death data match, the first merging, matching and cleansing of the data typically results in a significant change in the number of records identified and deleted (or added),” Christ said.
On Wednesday, the department said more than 119,000 coronavirus vaccines had been distributed in the state; However, they backed down on Thursday, claiming that around 113,000 vaccines had been given as a result of the data cleansing.
Overall, the state has been slow to speed up the distribution of coronavirus vaccines since receiving the first shipments in mid-December.
Arizona counties are slowly moving from phase 1A to 1B of vaccine distribution. Phase 1A prioritized health workers and those working and living in long-term care facilities.
Apache, Pinal and Gila counties have started vaccinating those in 1B, which includes teachers, adults 75 and older, essential workers, and high-risk adults in collective settings.
Maricopa County said on Wednesday it will enter Phase 1B next week.
The arrival of the vaccine and the intensification of the distribution process come as the state continues to reach new pandemic levels.
State health officials on Thursday reported 9,913 new coronavirus cases and a record 297 additional deaths, bringing the state-documented totals to 584,593 COVID-19 infections and 9,741 deaths.
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