A vial of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
Vaccine shipments delayed by severe weather have arrived in Pima County making it possible to resume COVID vaccinations to underserved areas this weekend. But county officials are not saying in advance where the weekend pop-up sites will be open.
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Francisco Garcia said Tuesday that vaccine equity remains a priority for Pima County. That is, making sure that all residents, no matter their circumstances, have access to the potentially lifesaving vaccine.
So this weekend the Pima County Health Department will once again have three mobile clinics operating in areas convenient to people who can't easily make it into central Tucson. But Garcia says the locations will not be announced until the day before, to ensure the limited supply remains available to people in the targeted areas.
"Part of our challenge with these kinds of mobile events is they really are about inreach, that is reaching those local communities, and we struggle with not generating too much demand. It's only so much vaccine we're taking into a particular setting and so we want to rely on inreach a rather than outreach as a way of creating demand," Dr. Garcia said.
The mobile clinics were cancelled last weekend when a severe winter storm played havoc with cross-country shipping, and vaccine supplies ran dry.
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