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A state in Arizona has simplified its COVID-19 vaccination requirements: you only have to be over 18 years old. Gila County opened its vaccine supply two weeks ago, in part because it used one of the state’s lowest doses, CBS reports. Health officials also received Arizona’s approval last week to give vaccinations in a transit clinic. “Before that, we struggled to get enough people to make appointments,” said Michael O’Driscoll, the province’s director of public health. “The state has therefore given me permission to offer it to any resident 18 and older.” A rural survey showed that half or so of the population of 56,000 would be vaccinated if possible; about a quarter of the residents now had at least one shot.
Officials have now begun offering vaccinations to anyone working in the small province east of Phoenix, including CNN. Officials said a strong communication effort to let people know that vaccinations were available, mainly by treating the pandemic as a raging fire, worked well. “What we did was set up the pandemic exactly as we would during our fire season,” O’Driscoll said. “We set up our incident assignment very similar to that.” People from different communities and provincial departments helped to get vaccine to residents. A nurse at the Cobre Regional Medical Center said there was still a lack of eagerness among young people, especially to take the shots, which she said could hamper efforts to achieve herd immunity. Gila County reported 3,885 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 154 deaths as of Thursday. (Read more stories about coronavirus vaccination.)