Log in

Government

Phoenix committee continues work on getting COVID-19 vaccine out

Posted 9/22/21

The Phoenix Human Relations Committee is continuing to work on getting coronavirus vaccines out to the public through pop-up events and more.

The HRC spoke about the Maricopa County Department of …

You must be a member to read this story.

Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.


Already have an account? Log in to continue.

Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here

Otherwise, follow the link below to join.

To Our Valued Readers –

Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.

For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.

Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.

Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.

Sincerely,
Charlene Bisson, Publisher, Independent Newsmedia

Please log in to continue

Log in
I am anchor
Government

Phoenix committee continues work on getting COVID-19 vaccine out

Posted

The Phoenix Human Relations Committee is continuing to work on getting coronavirus vaccines out to the public through pop-up events and more.

The HRC spoke about the Maricopa County Department of Public Health Covid-19 vaccine and updates during a city of Phoenix meeting on Sept. 20.

HRC are trying to make the COVID-19 vaccines as accessible as possible, so they have developed pop-up vaccination sites.

“ We started with the pop-up clinics all around in areas specifically where we found low uptake and so ... we even provided a map…. Right now we have done over 300 pop-ups with 15 more scheduled at this time and sometimes they last two or three days and sometimes they last only one day, but those are places where pop-ups have occurred in maricopa county and you can go on these sites at maricopa.gov/vaccine”, said commissioner Laurie Thomas.

HRCs main goal is to allow every Maricopa County resident to receive the vaccine, even the
homeless.

There have been no outbreaks in the Valley's homeless population that many cities had.

“We were able to get the most vulnerable and take them out of shelters and put them in environments where they were more spread apart and be able to get them vaccinated," Thomas said.

Part of the challeng is Maricopa County is 9,224 square miles, which is bigger than four other U.S. states. It is also the fourth- most populated county in the country and it is very necessary for the City of Phoenix to properly distribute vaccines across the county.

As of earlier this week, Maricopa County had 673,423 cases and 11,179 deaths as of yesterday.

Maricopa County is also in high transmission, there are 271 cases per 100,000 Maricopa County residents between Aug. 29, 2021,to Sept. 4, 2021.

This is lower than the previous years Covid-19 rates but still high and should be carefully watched.

As the homeless population is receiving vaccinations, parents of children going through the education system wonder how their children will be able to attend school safely.

Within Arizona, public, private and charter school teachers and students over the age of 12 years old are eligible for the vaccine.

As vaccinations are going around, there are three types. Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.

“The county still has J&J vaccines and I think they probably have the only entity. What is interesting is that the vaccine was the vaccine of choice. About 50%, maybe 55% chose J&J”, said Micheal Williams, the chair commissioner.

Only 53% of Maricopa County is fully vaccinated, and the HRC is still working on ways to get everyone vaccinated, such as diverse or hard-to-reach communities.

That's particularly important among various Arizona communities that have been impacted by the virus more than others, Thomas said.

“Nationwide, Black people have died at 1.4 times the rate of white people," Thomas said.

It is very important to have the vaccine reach diverse communities and minimize the amount of
deaths within the communities.

As of right now, the committee is trying to inform the residents of Maricopa county to get vaccinated because it will minimize covid cases and the amount of deaths from Covid-19 and overall help stop the spread.