Arizona to receive fewer coronavirus vaccines than expected for next week

PHOENIX – Arizona has not received its full allowance of COVID-19 vaccine doses from Pfizer for the coming week, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Health officials said in a press release on Friday that the state planned to order 70,200 doses of the vaccine, but was only able to order 41,925.

The department has contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for an explanation, but is awaiting a response, the statement said.

In addition, 119,400 doses of Moderna have been ordered by the state and are expected to arrive between December 21 and 23. Maricopa County will receive 18,500 doses of Moderna and Pima County will receive 17,000.

In recent days, governors and health leaders in more than a dozen states have said the federal government has told them next week’s shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will be lower than originally forecast.

Few explanations have been offered, leaving many officials perplexed.

Arizona health officials reported 7,635 new coronavirus cases and 142 more deaths on Friday, bringing the state’s documented total to 442,671 COVID-19 infections and 7,819 deaths.

It was the third day in a row with at least 100 deaths reported. Until Thursday, there had never been consecutive triple-digit days.

The state’s largest hospital system, Banner Health, reported Friday it needed refrigerated trucks to deal with the spike in deaths.

One truck is currently in use at Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix, while another truck is waiting at a Banner storage facility, said Dr. Marjorie Bessel, clinical director of Banner Health.

The first US doses of the coronavirus vaccine were given on Monday, and already this week hundreds of thousands of people, mostly health workers, have been vaccinated. The pace is expected to increase next week, assuming Moderna gets federal clearance for its vaccine.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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