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Arizona’s restaurant workers may have to wait a little longer for their chance to sign up for COVID-19 vaccines, despite the fact that their jobs often require interaction with customers.
Restaurants are classified by the state as “essential services,” according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. This previously meant restaurant workers would be able to sign up for vaccines once their county reached Phase 1B of distribution.
But on March 1, Arizona switched away from its phase-based distribution plan and started an age-based plan, meaning access to vaccines will be determined by age. State-run vaccination cites are now welcoming anyone 55 and above. The next age bracket includes those 45 and above.
The new plan, however, isn’t uniform across the state. Individual counties are each developing their own plans, merging aspects of the original and the new, to form hybrid plans.
These plans allow counties to prioritize essential workers as they choose. According to the county website, Maricopa County officials plan to release details about how essential workers will be prioritized, within the following week, starting March 8.
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When can Arizona restaurant workers get a COVID-19 vaccine?
Many counties throughout Arizona, includingMaricopa and Pima, are currently in a subcategory of 1B called Priority Phase 1B. Individual county vaccination sites are still following the phased distribution plan. According to Maricopa county’s website, those eligible for a vaccine in this category are:
- Adults age 65 and older.
- K-12 school staff and childcare workers.
- Law enforcement/protective service workers, including all sworn officers and government-employed security officers.
- Phase 1A populations.
The categories, however, are not mutually exclusive. So, if a restaurant worker is over 65, he or she is currently eligible to sign up for a vaccine. At state-run sites, the age limit is 55 and older.
Holly Poynter, public information officer for the Arizona Department of Health Services, says that while the state receives federal recommendations on who should be prioritized, “local allocators may further subprioritize populations in each phase based on vaccine supply.”
This means additional categories could be added resulting in a longer wait for restaurant workers. For example, on Monday, Feb. 15, Maricopa County’s priority list was expanded to include those over age 65. The phase previously included only those 75 and older.
The new age requirement opened eligibility to about 400,000 people, Moseley wrote, all of whom will take time to schedule and vaccinate.
Rules vary slightly by county. Check each county’s website for the most up-to-date information.
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What should restaurant owners do to help their staff?
For those who own restaurants, there is a way to help employees get vaccinated. Restaurant owners and other employers of essential workers should submit a Phase 1B Employer Vaccine Request Form, available through ADHS.
Through this form, employers can attest that their workers meet the criteria for prioritization and let the state know how many staff they have that need vaccines.
If a restaurant owner does not submit the form, their workers can still sign up for a vaccine. But the forms are shared with the counties and local vaccination sites to help make sure they are prepared for the number of essential workers seeking vaccines at those sites, Poynter wrote.
Vaccine appointments are also dictated by the availability of doses and the state’s allocation of vaccine supply.
In Maricopa County, there is no estimated start date for vaccinations for restaurant workers, Moseley wrote. Updated information, when available, is published statewide to the ADHS website and locally to county websites including the Maricopa County’s site and Pima County’s site.
Reach the reporter at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @tirionmorris, on Facebook at Tirion Rose and on Instagram at tirionrose.
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