Scottsdale doesn’t need mass COVID vaccine site

The state is now practically begging people to get vaccinated for COVID-19.

Appointments are no longer needed at the state’s seven mass vaccination sites, and state Health Services Director Dr. Cara Christ says supply is starting to exceed demand.

That would be fantastic news, except for the fact that there’s still plenty of demand — or there should be given that only 40% of the state has had at least one vaccination.

The problem is the demand is nowhere near where the state is offering the supply.

Consider Scottsdale. The state’s newest mass vaccination site opened on April 22 at Westworld. On Monday, it had an astounding 20,623 open appointments for this week, or more than a third of the open appointments at all state sites.

Perhaps that’s because most residents in Scottsdale who are going to get vaccinated already are vaccinated or are well on their way. More than 67% of eligible residents in Scottsdale already have received at least one shot, second only to Paradise Valley’s 74% in Maricopa County.

In north Scottsdale’s 85255 ZIP code, for example, 77% of residents already have gotten their first shot, with 65% fully vaccinated, according to state Department of Health Services Department data.

Meanwhile, in Maryvale’s 85035, just 32% of people have gotten their first shot and only 18% are fully protected.

Pity those 20,623 vaccines couldn’t be carted over to west Phoenix and divvied up among grocery stores and drug stores, where the people are.

Les Braswell of Advancing Arizona, a left-of-center nonprofit that focuses on health care policy, says those 20,000 empty appointment slots in Scottsdale point to one big inequity in how we are doling out protection.

“Instead of providing vaccine doses to the most vulnerable, underserved community, Gov. (Doug) Ducey’s COVID-19 policy continues to favor the wealthiest Arizonans and puts the most vulnerable at the end of the line,” he told me.

DHS Director Dr. Cara Christ, however, told me that demand is down at all vaccination sites across the state. She defended opening the WestWorld walkthrough site, saying the state wanted to ensure geographic distribution.

“We’ve got the Gila River (Arena), which is doing the west …” she said. “We’re working with both Maricopa County and other groups to offer more communitybased pop-up events.”

Yet still, the inequities are glaring.

In Scottsdale’s 85258, 76% of residents have had one shot and 65% are fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, just 20 miles southwest of there in south Phoenix’s 85040, only 36% of residents have gotten a shot, with just 22% fully protected.

Christ told me they are continuing to evaluate where and how to offer the vaccine with the ultimate goal of getting the shots into more pharmacies and other places where people normally go to get health care.

“What we wanted to make sure we didn’t do is reduce capacities in any one geographical area,” she said. “We’ve continued to evaluate where resources need to go and work with community providers.”

It seems pretty clear the answer isn’t Scottsdale. The site opened just a week ago and this week had the highest number of unfilled spots by far at any state site.

In addition to WestWorld and Gila River, the state also runs mass vaccination sites inside ASU’s Desert Financial Arena in Tempe, a Dexcom distribution center in Mesa and in Tucson, Yuma and Flagstaff.

The locations of these and all other sites offering the vaccine can be found on the DHS website.

Nationwide, 43% of adults have gotten at least one shot, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine tracker. Arizona isn’t far off that mark, at 40%.

In north Scottsdale’s 85262, nearly 83% of eligible residents have received the first dose, with 72% fully vaccinated.

But just 40 miles away in west Phoenix’s 85017, just 30% of eligible residents have gotten one shot with only 19% fully protected.

Meanwhile, 20,000 open dale …

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