The Arizona visit by First Lady Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff took them to a pop-up vaccination clinic the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) is funding in partnership with the Equality Health and HeroZona foundations.
This event at Isaac Middle School in west Phoenix is one of a number of such clinics offered in recent months through the One Community Initiative, of which ADHS is a partner. The Equality Health Foundation is one of 13 entities under contract with the state to provide mobile vaccination services in underserved communities.
“We welcome the First Lady and Second Gentleman to Arizona and to this wonderful opportunity to see what the One Community Initiative and similar efforts are doing to make vaccination even more accessible in areas with lower uptake,” said ADHS Director Dr. Cara Christ, who will attend the event.
Over the past two weeks, seven state-run mass-vaccination sites closed after they administered more than 1.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to 867,000 people in Arizona since January. Focus has shifted to state-supported community vaccination events that have been underway for months, such as today’s event.
Other recent examples of community-based vaccination are Chase Field events held this month in partnership with the Arizona Diamondbacks using another provider under state contract. A pop-up event held at a south Phoenix school in partnership with the Equality Health and HeroZona foundations vaccinated nearly 700 individuals on May 14, the first day the Pfizer vaccine was available to ages 12 and up.
ADHS continues to support vaccination efforts at sites statewide through contracts with Premier Medical Group, including Woods Memorial Library and Menlo Park Family Resource Center in Pima County, and the Show Low Gun Show in Navajo County.
For such events, ADHS uses federal grant dollars to cover operating expenses.
This is the second White House event featuring an Arizona vaccination facility. In early February, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris made a virtual visit to the state-run mass-vaccination site at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, hailing it as a national model.
“You’re saving people’s lives, short-term and long-term,” the president told Dr. Christ during the virtual tour.
In addition to partnerships with community-based vaccination providers, ADHS has commissioned strategic, high-intensity outreach in areas with lower vaccination rates and higher instances of serious outcomes from COVID-19. These started with a pilot program in ZIP code 85009 west of downtown Phoenix that included telephone town halls in English and Spanish, geofenced advertising, and door-to-door outreach to register eligible residents for vaccination. More than 400 people from that ZIP code were vaccinated through that outreach, including many who used taxis provided for them.
Since that time, this outreach has expanded to include much of the area south, southwest and southeast Phoenix and areas of Mesa, Yuma County, and southern Scottsdale.
ADHS has also helped get more vaccine into communities by enabling doctors’ offices and health clinics to order directly from the federal government.
“It’s wonderful to have the First Lady and Second Gentleman here focusing on the continued need for vaccination,” Dr. Christ said. “COVID-19 remains active in our communities, and new and more contagious variants increase the chances of cases and hospitalizations among unvaccinated individuals.”
To learn more about COVID-19 vaccines, please visit azdhs.gov/COVID19vaccines. To find a location offering safe, highly effective, and free vaccines, please visit azdhs.gov/FindVaccine.
