Appointments full for this week’s COVID vaccination clinics; Yuma County says demand outweighs supply

Appointments for the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine filled in under two hours Tuesday as eligible residents vied for their own initial dose of the twopart injection.

Last week, the Yuma County Public Health Services District announced that 6,900 vaccines were slated to arrive Tuesday for Phase 1A and Prioritized Phase 1B inoculation clinics Thursday and Friday.

Healthcare and emergency medical personnel, education and childcare providers, law enforcement officers and protective services personnel were encouraged to schedule appointments starting at 1 p.m. Tuesday to secure their inoculation via the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) Patient Portal, while adults age 65 and older could call the county health department directly.

At 2:52 p.m. Yuma County Government announced via Facebook and Twitter that all appointments for Thursday and Friday’s clinics had been filled, eliciting numerous complaints that those who’d spent hours trying to secure an appointment were unable to do so.

According to Michael Mead, he and his wife belong to the 65-and-older category of the Prioritized Phase 1B group; having difficulty scheduling through the ADHS Patient Portal, they attempted to call the local health district at the number previously provided, but encountered similar misfortune.

“We kept trying dozens and dozens of times, hitting redial all afternoon, and either got a busy signal or a message saying there were no more vaccines,” Mead said in a Tuesday interview with the Yuma Sun. “Where several thousand doses went, I have no idea, because I don’t know anybody who managed to get through to sign up.”

Mead described the situation as a “complete mess.”

“We’re still where we were,” he said. “It’s ridiculous. (The message) doesn’t say when they expect to get any more vaccines or what we’re supposed to do from

here.”

Others commented on the county’s Facebook post with similar experiences, some reportedly attempting to call upwards of 200 times to no avail.

Likened to “trying to get tickets to one of the greatest shows on the planet that everybody’s trying to get into,” Yuma County Communications Director Kevin Tunell said the issue is the demand outweighs the supply.

“The demand from the public far exceeds the amount of vaccines we’re getting,” he said. “That’s going to be the case until we get more vaccines. The good news is we know there will be more vaccines and there will be more appointments in the future.”

According to Tunell, additional appointment windows will not open until more vaccines are available. Even then, appointment availability will be based on vaccine availability; the county does not provide opportunities for individuals to schedule appointments in advance of allocations.

“We’re not committal until we actually have it, and that’s the best way to proceed,” Tunell said. “We will only allow enough appointments to cover the amount of vaccines we actually physically receive. Predicting the future is an expectation, and when it doesn’t show up people are disappointed and we’re in a bind. We want to vaccine everybody, it’s just not the way it’s working for us. We’re doing the best we can with what we have.”

While appointments for the first dose are full, individuals within the Phase 1A group needing their second dose of the vaccine can schedule an appointment for the health district’s second dose vaccination clinic Jan. 27-28 via the ADHS Patient Portal, accessible at https://podvaccine.azdhs. gov.

To receive the second dose, individuals must have received their initial inoculation between Dec. 21 and Dec. 30.

For immediate updates on vaccine availability, individuals can sign up for e-notifications at www. yumacountyaz.gov/enotify by selecting the envelope box next to “Official Press Releases,” which will deliver directly to their inbox.

Updates are also posted to the Yuma County Government Facebook page at www.facebook.com/yumacountyaz and Twitter at www.twitter.com/yumacountyaz.