Maricopa County expanded vaccine eligibility to include school staff and child care providers this week and the county is preparing to get more educators vaccinated. The county is planning to launch specialized points of dispensing, or “PODs,” just for K-12 school staff and child care workers.
Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine with Maricopa County Public Health said Thursday that the county has planned 17 geographic areas that group together child care providers with public, private and charter schools. Each group is working with a pharmacy partner to plan vaccine distribution.
“Some of these groups might be smaller and might be able to have one POD location on one day for the first dose and for the second, and others might need to have four different locations just to serve that grouping. Those are all being set up now," Sunenshine said.
Coronavirus vaccines are still in limited supply and availability of vaccine appointments depends on how many doses the county can secure. But Sunenshine said some of the school PODs may open as early as next week.
“We are working with districts and school associations to communicate this with all school staff so they are aware of when their school and child care POD will be scheduled," Sunenshine said.
As of Thursday, Maricopa County had administered more than 105,000 doses of vaccines. Vaccinations in the county are currently open in phase 1A and 1B priority groups. Those groups include health care workers, staff and residents of long term care facilities, adults 75 and older, law enforcement, school staff and child care workers. The county regularly updates eligibility information on its website. Information on additional vaccination locations statewide is listed on the Arizona Department of Health Services website.
