GLENDALE, AZ — Beginning on Monday, Jan. 11, State Farm Stadium in Glendale will open as a 24/7 COVID-19 vaccination site.
A registration link for the State Farm Stadium site is available on the Arizona Department of Health Services website.
On Monday, select law enforcement officials and other protective service workers will be vaccinated at State Farm Stadium, followed by others in phases 1A and 1B who make appointments starting Tuesday, Jan. 12.
The first appointments at State Farm Stadium will be available to health care workers, first responders, teachers, law enforcement, Arizonans over age 75, and others at the top of the priority list, ADHS says.
Vaccinations will be handled by appointments only.
For those without internet access to access to a computer, ADHS Director Dr. Cara Christ said during a Friday afternoon press conference that people will also be able to contact the ADHS COVID-19 hotline, 1-844-542-8201, or Arizona 211 on Monday at 8 a.m. to be routed to someone who can help book an appointment.
When fully up and running, Dr. Christ said she expects the vaccination site to handle 250-500 people an hour, or potentially 6,000 to 12,000 vaccinations a day.
She also said State Farm Stadium would continue to be a COVID-19 testing site, while also handling COVID-19 vaccinations.
Gov. Doug Ducey was not at ADHS' press conference announcing the vaccination site Friday.
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The vaccination site is possible as part of a $1-million grant from the Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation.
"Our new vaccine site in Glendale will rapidly expand the number of Arizonans getting vaccinated,” Gov. Ducey said in a statement. “We need to get these vaccine doses out of freezers and into the arms of Arizonans who want it, and our new site will speed up that process.
Across the state, over 725 of the state's Department of Emergency and Military Affairs members are helping medical staff, including opening this vaccination site.
Officials with the Governor's office state that, as of Friday, 123,862 people had received the COVID-19 vaccine and 2,127 individuals had received both doses and were fully vaccinated.
The distribution of vaccinations in Arizona will be expanded to "hundreds of providers" as more doses are made available.
A majority of the staffing for the State Farm Stadium vaccination center will be volunteers from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona, with Cardinals officials providing technical support, tenting, and more.
The state says they’re also looking at other large venues as well as looking to expand to pharmacies and health clinics. More than 650 providers and 800+ pharmacies have been approved by the state to give them out.
“The pharmacies and our doctors' offices once it becomes available, have a lot of power to push out vaccines pretty quickly, you're just multiplying the number of providers significantly,” said Dr. Christ.
The problem is, she says supply to do it won’t be around until early spring.
