PHOENIX — Arizona has marked half a million COVID-19 vaccinations, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
The more than 500,000 doses have been administered to Arizona residents as of Wednesday morning, six weeks after the first doses of the vaccine were made available.
“We’ve hit a major milestone in our battle against COVID-19,” said Dr. Cara Christ, director of the Arizona Department of Health Services. “We’ve come a long way since mid-December, but we have a long road ahead of us. Our goal is to get the vaccine to every Arizonan who wants it as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
#COVID19 Vaccine Update: More than a half million doses of vaccine have been administered to Arizonans as of Wednesday morning. Distribution has dramatically increased since 1/11, when the state-run vaccination site at @StateFarmStdm began operating 24 /7. https://t.co/4RtVgEYZ6n pic.twitter.com/TQgs6mVeKI
— AZ Dept of Health (@AZDHS) January 27, 2021
On the same day, Arizona saw a total of 5,918 new daily cases of the coronavirus along with 195 additional deaths since the previous day of reporting. In total, Arizona has seen 738,561 confirmed cases and 12,643 deaths related to the virus.
To date Arizona has administered 518,125 COVID-19 vaccine doses to 430,673 individuals, including 79,026 who have received both doses, said ADHS officials.
Arizona’s population is just over 7.27 million. That means approximately 7% of the state's population has received their first dose of the vaccine and just over 1% of the state’s population has received a second dose.
State Farm Stadium in Glendale, which is operated by ADHS and partners, has administered 84,360 doses. The Phoenix Municipal Stadium site, which opens on Monday, had its capacity limited to around 500 doses a day to start because of the limited vaccine supply coming from the federal government.
All appointments at the two state-run sites are booked through February, however, appointments have been reserved for those vaccinated at a state-run site to receive second doses.
On Tuesday, Governor Doug Ducey issued an advisory to accelerate the statewide distribution of the vaccine and move doses to where they can be rapidly administered to Arizonans. It allows the state to reallocate vaccination doses to where they will be most rapidly distributed and requires healthcare providers and local health agencies that administer the COVID-19 vaccine to report data to ADHS indicating the pace of vaccination distribution.