PHOENIX — Arizona will receive a significantly smaller than expected shipment of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine next week, the Department of Health Services announced Friday.
Health officials were expecting a shipment of 70,200 doses of the shot for the week of December 20, but only 41,925 doses could be ordered, according to ADHS. That’s 40% less.
Other states have reported a smaller than expected vaccine shipment as well. ADHS says no explanation for the shortfall was given.
Several states say they have been told to expect far fewer doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in its second week of distribution, prompting worries about potential delays in shots for health care workers and long-term care residents.
But senior Trump administration officials on Thursday downplayed the risk of delays, citing a confusion over semantics, while Pfizer said its production levels have not changed.
A second COVID-19 vaccine is nearing FDA approval. Moderna’s own vaccine received a key endorsement from a health committee on Thursday.
ADHS says 119,400 Moderna vaccine doses have been allocated to Arizona should it be approved in the near future.
Both vaccines will be in sharp demand as COVID-19 cases surge across the nation, and with Arizona hospitals reporting rapidly filling hospital beds and ICUs.
There have been 442,671 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 7,819 coronavirus-related deaths reported in Arizona as of Friday.
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