Presidential Inauguration Day is always a special day. If you missed the inauguration poem given by 22 year old Amanda Gorman you missed something pretty cool.

In the last E-News I reported that Carl Cross, our very own President, was tasked with writing a letter to President Crow asking if ASURA members could be included in ASU's vaccination plans. 

Carl received a response from President Crow indicating he (Crow) was asking Nichol Luoma, Vice President of University Business Services, to connect with him to discuss this further. Nichol informed Carl that we (ASURA) now have a site at Phoenix Muni Stadium which is a public site and can be scheduled through the state’s website. She also told Carl that she would let Kevin Salcido in HR know of our concerns to see what else can be done for our retirees. For now, we are encouraged to visit the public sites if we fit the criteria.

Not quite the response we were hoping for but they did not say "no way" so there is always hope.

To help you keep up with what is going on we have created a COVID-19 webpage. The page contains links to vaccination sites in Pinal and Maricopa Counties as well as the Points of Distribution (POD) operated by the state (Arizona Department of Health Services). On these pages you can find:

• lists of vaccination sites
• availability of reservations at the listed sites
• links to reservation webpages

If you want to schedule a vaccination, you should check these pages regularly. At the moment (noon on 1/20/2021)

• There are no January or February appointments available at State Farm or Phoenix Muni
• There is no availability at any of the five Maricopa Points of Distribution (POD)
• It is less clear what is available on the Pinal site

As I mentioned in the last E-News, if you have not created an account with ADHS you should do so; even if you cannot actually schedule anything. The site is a portal for scheduling vaccinations at the various PODs and when appointments become available you don't want to be fiddling around creating your account.

Barry

E-New Editor