The state reversed its decision to block a federally run vaccination site in Pima County and will allow FEMA to work independently with the county to set up a site, Dr. Cara Christ, Arizona health department director, said Friday.
The new Federal Emergency Management Agency point of distribution, or POD, is expected to provide around 300,000 new vaccine doses split between the Kino Event Center and El Pueblo Center โ two areas with large Hispanic populations.
During a March 24 update, Pima County's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Francisco Garcia discusses the state's rejection of a federally funded vaccine site in Tucson and their plans to expand vaccine availability.
At a news conference Friday, Christ said the state sent a letter to FEMA delegating authority to the county to implement the vaccine site as long as the POD doesnโt take away state vaccine supply or resources.
However, the letter Christ wrote to FEMA announcing the decision puts the countyโs ability to host the site into question while creating further stipulations.
The state health director pointed to the countyโs recent request to the state to reimburse its COVID-19 testing costs she said are โunapproved.โ
โBased on our recent experience with Pima County, we have concerns about their ability to adequately support your site, given their inability to financially sustain other COVID-19 related public health activities they have chosen to undertake, and have since billed the state for unapproved costs,โ Christ wrote in the letter.
The state is refusing to pay back the county for the $7.6 million it has spent on testing from Dec. 21 to Jan. 15 โ a time of peak COVID-19 cases โ but hasnโt informed the county of the reasoning for the cutoff date.
In February, the state health department announced it would release $100 million of the $418 million in funds it received from the CDC to Arizonaโs counties to support testing costs. Pima County was allocated $14.4 million but has yet to receive the money.
County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said the countyโs request for reimbursement is irrelevant to its ability to help run a federal POD.
โThe testing was performed by our public-health agency responding to their obligations in public health during the height of the pandemic,โ he said. โAll we asked the state to do is consider reimbursing us for those expenses. They arbitrarily made a decision to say before Jan. 15, they werenโt eligible.โ
FEMA has set up vaccination centers around the country in socially vulnerable areas supported and staffed through federal funds. The county, however, may have to provide funds for other logistics like cold-chain storage and a registration site.
Christ called into question the countyโs ability to pay for these resources, but Huckelberry said the county has already established vaccination site support in the three regional distribution points it has run since December.
โUnderstand that a federal POD comes with a lot of federal personnel, and theyโre paid for by the federal government,โ Huckelberry said. โFrankly, operating this POD will be less expensive than operating the county PODs.โ
Christ also told FEMA no federal immunization funds can go toward the federal site.
Huckelberry said, if necessary, the county will pay for the federal vaccine site through its general fund, but it expects the costs to be reimbursable by the American Rescue Plan. The federal relief package allocates funds directly to the county without going through the state first.
Before the decision to allow a federal PODโs implementation without state help, Gov. Doug Ducey and Christ turned down FEMAโs offer over concerns it would drain state resources and take from its vaccine supply.
FEMA sent Christ a letter insisting the concerns were unfounded, but the health director said sheโd rather have the doses supplying the federal site given to the state, as it already has the infrastructure in place to administer vaccines.
On Wednesday, the Pima County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to appeal to the state to reconsider allowing the FEMA site. Later that day, Ducey said he would reconsider his decision.
While Christ said her mind was changed after FEMA reassured her doses for the federal POD wouldnโt come from the stateโs allocation, her letter to the federal agency calls for written assurance the county has the funds and resources to run it.
Huckelberry says the county is prepared to provide those assurances. While he has more hurdles to climb with the stateโs letter, the county administrator looks forward to the opportunity to supply more vaccines to the county.
โIโm very pleased with the reconsideration because it means 210,000 more people in Pima County are going to be vaccinated quickly,โ he said. โWe donโt know why they changed their mind, but weโre pleased that they did.โ
Photos: San Xavier Mission enters phase two of conservation project
Conservation of Mission San Xavier's East Tower
Updated
Eric Means, bottom right, project general contractor, and Jarvis Juan, crew member, work on building the scaffolding for phase two of the conservation of San Xavier's East Tower project at San Xavier Mission, 1950 W. San Xavier Rd., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 24, 2021.ย
Conservation of Mission San Xavier's East Tower
Updated
Jarvis Juan, crew member of Means Design and Building, works on building the scaffolding for phase two of the conservation of San Xavier's East Tower project at San Xavier Mission, 1950 W. San Xavier Rd., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 24, 2021.ย
Conservation of Mission San Xavier's East Tower
Updated
Eric Means, project general contractor, and Jarvis Juan, crew member, work on building the scaffolding for phase two of the conservation of San Xavier's East Tower project at San Xavier Mission, 1950 W. San Xavier Rd., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 24, 2021.ย
Conservation of Mission San Xavier's East Tower
Updated
The scaffolding for phase two of the conservation of San Xavier's East Tower project is photographed at San Xavier Mission, 1950 W. San Xavier Rd., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 24, 2021.ย
Conservation of Mission San Xavier's East Tower
Updated
Visitors walk outside of the San Xavier Mission while Eric Means, project general contractor, and Jarvis Juan, crew member, work on building the scaffolding for phase two of the conservation of San Xavier's East Tower project at San Xavier Mission, 1950 W. San Xavier Rd., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 24, 2021.ย
Conservation of Mission San Xavier's East Tower
Updated
A poster informing visitors about the project hangs in front of some fencing while Eric Means, project general contractor, and Jarvis Juan, crew member, work on building the scaffolding for phase two of the conservation of San Xavier's East Tower project at San Xavier Mission, 1950 W. San Xavier Rd., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 24, 2021.ย
Conservation of Mission San Xavier's East Tower
Updated
Jarvis Juan, crew member of Means Design and Building, works on building the scaffolding for phase two of the conservation of San Xavier's East Tower project at San Xavier Mission, 1950 W. San Xavier Rd., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 24, 2021.
Conservation of Mission San Xavier's East Tower
Updated
Eric Means, project general contractor, and Jarvis Juan (not pictured), crew member, work on building the scaffolding for phase two of the conservation of San Xavier's East Tower project at San Xavier Mission, 1950 W. San Xavier Rd., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 24, 2021.
Conservation of Mission San Xavier's East Tower
Updated
Jarvis Juan, crew member of Means Design and Building, works on building the scaffolding for phase two of the conservation of San Xavier's East Tower project at San Xavier Mission, 1950 W. San Xavier Rd., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 24, 2021.ย
Conservation of Mission San Xavier's East Tower
Updated
Eric Means, project general contractor, watches as Jarvis Juan (not pictured), crew member, works on building the scaffolding for phase two of the conservation of San Xavier's East Tower project at San Xavier Mission, 1950 W. San Xavier Rd., in Tucson, Ariz. on March 24, 2021.ย
