Maricopa County hopes to vaccinate more than 50,000 front line health care workers for coronavirus by the end of this week.

The rate of vaccination is likely to speed up as time goes on.

After a rocky start, the county’s stations are operating at full capacity. The vaccination is given on a drive-through basis — from the shot to a short waiting period.

Maricopa County Public Health

The first shipments of coronavirus vaccines arrived in Arizona on Dec. 14, 2020.

Marcy Flanagan, executive director of Maricopa County Public Health, addressed members of the media at an East Valley site Wednesday as several lines of cars inched forward. Flanagan says the county had a number of bugs to work out at first.

"All of those have been worked out and fixed. And so, last week I think was a bit more frustrating for some individuals trying to go through the process. This week has been a lot smoother," she said. 

Flanagan said that one of the biggest problems at this point is getting more of the vaccine, which is still not widely available.

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