PHOENIX (AP) - Sharp economic disparities exist in metro Phoenix when it comes to the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to new information released by Maricopa County.
The county’s Department of Public Health posted a detailed breakdown this week of vaccinations administered by age, race, ZIP code and other factors.
A coded map shows that upscale areas have a high vaccination rate, For example, in Paradise Valley, almost every eligible person has gotten at least one dose of the vaccine. The same is true in one part of Scottsdale. In contrast, in one neighborhood in south Phoenix, which is predominantly Hispanic, less than one in five eligible people got the vaccine.
“It’s no surprise when you look at the way the appointment system is set up, the Darwinian aspects of it,” said Dr. Will Humble, executive director of the Arizona Public Health Association, referring to the state registration website. “You’ve got to have a good computer. You’ve got to have Wi-Fi. You have to have a flexible job that lets you be home those minutes when appointments become open.”
Humble, who now leads the Arizona Public Health Association, said such a gap cannot be attributed to just vaccine hesitancy that often is found among communities of color. The allocation of vaccine to the bigger sites like State Farm Stadium is also likely preventing large counties like Maricopa and Pima from doing more outreach in underserved areas, Humble said. He likened it to continuously “taking the cream off the top.”
Dr. Cara Christ, state Department of Health Services director, has previously insisted that the share of doses going to state-run mass vaccination sites is not impacting what Arizona’s 15 counties receive.
“We continue to monitor our weekly allocations and we give that out on a pro rata basis of the population of the phase that each county has,” Christ told reporters Wednesday.
She has said the state is working with local advocacy groups to get vaccine to minority communities. The state also plans to work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pharmacy program to deliver vaccine to community health centers and hard-to-reach areas.
Arizona on Friday reported 2,426 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases and 172 additional deaths as the fall and winter surge in the outbreak continued to slow. The figures reported by the Department of Health Services increased the state’s pandemic totals to 793,532 cases and 14,834 deaths.
The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients is also declining, with 2,396 people occupying inpatient beds as of Thursday, down from the pandemic high of 5,082 on Jan. 11, according to the state’s coronavirus dashboard.
Meanwhile, The COVID Tracking Project reported that the rolling average of daily new cases dropped from 6,184.3 on Jan. 28 to 2,758.6 on Thursday while the rolling average of daily deaths dropped from 149.6 to 130 during the same period.
The number of infections is thought to be far higher than reported because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.
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