AZ Health Care Leaders Plead: Put Politics Aside, Get Vaccinated

PHOENIX, AZ — The leaders of major hospital systems across Arizona came together Tuesday to beg the public to get vaccinated for COVID-19, to get their boosters, to wear masks and to stay home if they are sick.

COVID-19 numbers are again skyrocketing in Arizona after a peak in August and hospital leaders across the state say their facilities are struggling to care for their other patients in Intensive Care Units because of the numbers of COVID-19 patients taking up beds there.

As of Monday, around 35 percent of ICU beds across the state were occupied by COVID-19 patients, according to the Arizona Department of Public Health, and only about 6 percent, or 114 beds across the state were still available.

“Please help us to help you,” said Dr. Richard Carmona during a Tuesday press conference. “We can’t do it without the public helping us.”

Carmona is the senior advisor to Gov. Doug Ducey on public health preparedness.

Unvaccinated people are 11 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than those who are vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So far, more than 22,000 people in Arizona have died of COVID-19 and 120 new deaths were reported on Tuesday.

Hospital leaders expressed concern that the case counts are already rising even ahead of holiday gatherings that resulted in increased cases last year.

Banner Health's Chief Clinical Officer Marjorie Bessel reported that 80 percent of people hospitalized for COVID-19 in the Banner Health system are unvaccinated. As of Tuesday, 50 percent of the patients on ventilators in the Banner system were COVID-19 positive, she said.

She asked that everyone who is unvaccinated get their shots and anyone who is 18 or older and six months out from their last shot get their booster.

Officials from the Mayo Clinic, Honor Health, Valleywise and other hospital systems across the state also urged Arizonans to get their children ages 5-11 vaccinated now that the Pfizer vaccines are approved for that age group. They also recommended everyone get their flu vaccines, to continue masking when around those not from their household who may be unvaccinated and to skip holiday gatherings if they are sick.

Officials also recommended getting tested early for COVID-19 and if they test positive to ask their doctors if they qualify for monoclonal antibody treatment in an effort to keep themselves out of the hospital.

Especially with snow birds, who tend to be older and have more health conditions than the typical person, coming into Arizona this time of year, Carmona asked the public to have compassion for health care workers and to practice all the recommended mitigation strategies to keep themselves out of the hospital.

When asked if Gov. Doug Ducey's steps against vaccination mandates and masking were costing lives, Carmona said he was focused on patients and providing the proper health recommendations to everyone regardless of politics.

“People are dying while we’re arguing,” he said.

Carmona added that public health has always struggled with the rights of the individual versus the greater good of the public. The world will never reach herd immunity, he said, without vaccination.