A vial of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
This story will be updated
The Arizona Department of Health Services announced, as of Wednesday, Mar. 24, everyone ages 16 and up can get a COVID-19 vaccine at one of the state-run vaccine locations.
The director of the State Department of Health Services, Dr. Cara Christ, said Monday the change was made after nearly half of the 130,000 new appointments the state added Friday were still unfilled on Monday morning.
"As of Monday morning there were still 58,000 appointments available from Friday's release. Arizona has done a great job at using all of the vaccine available to us, and this change helps us keep that momentum," Christ said at a news conference at State Farm Stadium in Glendale.
In southern Arizona, the University of Arizona operates the only state pod.
Officials at the university said they have plenty of appointments available for this week.
“We see that more as an area that people don’t understand how to get into the system, how to access the vaccine, and then you have the group with vaccine hesitancy,” said Dr. Richard Carmona, former U.S. Surgeon General, who oversees the university’s COVID-19 response.
The change in eligibility is only for the state-run pods and does not include county-run or other sites though those sites could change to the new eligibility category.
The state's earlier plan would have gradually opened vaccine eligibility to broader age groups every few weeks: 45+, 35+, and so on.
Dr. Christ says the change will allow more family groups, and elderly people plus their caregivers, to get the vaccine together.
You can register for vaccines at state pods here.
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