Pima County Postpones Vaccine Appointments, Deliveries Delayed

TUCSON, AZ — Extreme weather across the U.S. has forced Pima County to put some vaccine appointments on hold.

Pima County health officials said in a Thursday news release that vaccine delivery delays due to extreme weather in neighboring states, including Texas, and a reduction in doses allocated to the region will force some appointments to be postponed. Officials will now refocus its limited supplies on ensuring second doses are administered on time. The county expects this to be a short-term issue and things will go back to normal once additional doses arrive.

As vaccine providers in Pima County await vaccine deliveries, more appointments are set to be postponed at County supported sites. Delays and a reduction in vaccine doses provided to the County are also forcing Health Department officials to refocus these limited supplies on administering second doses on time.

“As we deal with the challenge of this delayed shipment, we are also thinking about how to best use the limited supply we will get next week as well,” Dr. Theresa Cullen, Director of the Pima County Health Department, said in a statement. “We are starting to receive fewer doses than we received a month ago, meaning that nearly all of our upcoming doses will need to be focused on getting people their second dose.”

The affected county sites are:

• Tucson Medical Center, beginning Thursday for some second dose appointments
• Tucson Convention Center, beginning Friday
• Banner South, beginning Friday

The city of Tucson said all appointments scheduled at the convention center Friday are being rescheduled into next week as it is close to running out of the vaccine.

The city said everyone affected will be sent an email with their rescheduled appointment information. If you can't make your new appointment, you can drop by the convention center from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to reschedule.

Those with appointments scheduled for the next few days at Banner South will be contacted by Banner Health and those with appointments at the Tucson Medical Center will be contacted by TMC.

Two mobile vaccination events planned for Saturday have also been postponed, the county said. These events targeted to high-risk communities will now move to March, but an exact date has not yet been set.

The county said it was notified Thursday by the Arizona Department of Health Services that they would receive 12,500 doses for use at Pima County for the next week — the lowest total given to the county in 10 weeks. Last week, the county received 16,300 doses and 1,000 went to the state vaccination site at the University of Arizona.

In January, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that second doses of the coronavirus vaccine can be given up to six weeks after the first dose.

“We are still in a good place with getting these second doses completed within the appropriate time frame,” Cullen said. “With the State’s site still giving first doses, we want to make sure we complete these second appointments.”