Watch live: President Biden and Vice President Harris virtually tour the State Farm Stadium vaccination site.
The State of Arizona was one of the first states to reach out to the federal government to partner around vaccination sites. At the State’s request, the Administration is deploying a full range of interagency resources to support the state in getting shots into arms. There are nearly 300 federal personnel deployed to the state. This includes about 100 FEMA staff providing administrative support to vaccination operations in Yavapai, Maricopa, Mohave, Coconino, and Pima counties.
Just this past weekend, HHS deployed over 100 vaccinators to support vaccination operations. These vaccinators will increase the pace of vaccinations statewide. This is on top of about 100 federal medical personnel deployed to support the COVID response statewide. The Administration is fully reimbursing the State for its deployment of National Guard to help get people vaccinated – at zero cost to the state. Just yesterday, FEMA awarded $20M to the State of Arizona to support the COVID-19 response, including vaccination operations.
The site that the President is touring virtually today is located in the parking lot of State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona – home to Arizona Cardinals. It is a drive-thru vaccination center that runs 24/7, with traffic steady throughout the night. The site is the result of a multi-agency effort between the State, National Guard, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Arizona State University, and FEMA. At the state’s request, FEMA sent approximately 25 staff to fill deep night shifts when the state had trouble finding personnel. We currently have 10 FEMA staff onsite serving as greeters, traffic managers, runners and administrative support.
This site is an example of a best practice that we are replicating nationwide. The around the clock operating hours allow people to visit at a time convenient to them. They have completed 100K+ vaccinations since opening on January 11th and at times, the site has exceeded 8K vaccinations a day. This is just one of the many ways the federal government is working with states to help meet their unique needs and get more vaccinations into arms more quickly.