By Alison Steinbach | Arizona Republic
Maricopa County may receive its first doses of COVID-19 vaccines as early as next week and plans to follow a phased approach based on risk factors.
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High-priority health care workers in Maricopa County are likely to get the first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine starting next week as part of the first phase of a months-long plan for vaccine distribution across the county.
Maricopa County expects to get its first batch of vaccines on Dec. 15 and plans to begin vaccinating health care workers at select sites across the county by Dec. 17, according to Marcy Flanagan, the county’s public health director.
The county is planning a phased approach to who gets vaccinated when, as the first allocations are expected to include only small numbers of doses.
Flanagan said distribution priorities were set broadly by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state, and then refined further at the local level.
While the vaccine represents a beacon of hope in a long and worsening pandemic, public health officials have cautioned that the process will be slow because of supply and distribution limitations. Early doses will be prioritized to high-risk groups, meaning it will take months for the general public to receive the vaccine.
Flanagan said she does not expect herd immunity to be reached in Maricopa County until enough of the general public has been vaccinated, likely not until late spring or summer.
