PHOENIX — In an interview with KTAR 92.3 FM on Thursday, Gov. Doug Ducey revealed that his plan appears to be vaccinating our way out of the current crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an interview on the Mike Broomhead show, Gov. Ducey was asked about vaccines and how some experts have said that we’re not going to be able to vaccinate ourselves out of this problem.
WARNING TO ARIZONA: 'Aggressive mitigation must be used to match a more aggressive virus...'@ABC obtained this week's latest White House report that tells @dougducey clear recommendations, 'moving beyond what worked in the summer to more layered mitigation...'#COVID19 #abc15 pic.twitter.com/9WLcucfpkl
— Nicole Grigg (@NicoleSGrigg) January 14, 2021
Ducey said in part, “but, we will be able to vaccinate our way out of this. Vaccination is the only solution.”
Public health experts like Dr. Shad Marvasti tell ABC15 that there’s no evidence to support that.
"There’s no expert that would promote that as a strategy,” he said.
Dr. Shad applauded the governor for rolling out vaccines quicker, but says it will not make an impact at this time.
“Vaccines will not be able to come fast enough to save lives today,” said Dr. Shad. “We're going to have unnecessary suffering and we’re going to have deaths that can be prevented.”
Experts with ASU’s Biodesign said this week that it will take time for vaccines to make an impact on the spread in Arizona.
"For us to see a real impact on the spread of the virus among the community, we need to get at least 50% of the people vaccinated,” said Joshua LaBaer.
LaBaer said that would equate to millions of vaccines being given in the state.
As of Thursday, Arizona has administered more than 200,000 vaccines.
“We're acting as if there’s nothing we can do other than a vaccine and the fact is there’s many more things we can do and we did them in the summer,” said Dr. Shad.
