Daniel Derksen, a physician and the director of the Arizona Center for Rural Health at the University of Arizona, where he is also a professor, said he’s puzzled “that some individuals and a few health providers are skeptical about the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines but are so gung-ho on ivermectin."

Joe Gerald, an associate professor at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, discusses whether those vaccinated should still adhere to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's safety guidelines and if they should still take a COVID-19 test if they feel unwell.

Visit the University of Arizona COVID-19 vaccine distribution sites.

Joe Gerald, an associate professor with the University of Arizona's Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, said Arizona is in a four-week stretch where the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are coming down. "We are trending in the right direction, but we have to remember we are coming down from just a catastrophic peak.”

The coronavirus pandemic has soared to more than 26 million cases in the United States as new studies show that younger folks are largely responsible for the spread. Dr. Shad Marvasti, Director of Public Health Prevention and Health Promotion at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix, breaks down the latest coronavirus developments.

Experts say the best way to minimize fear surrounding COVID-19 vaccines is for medical professionals to listen to people's concerns and connect them with correct and accessible information. "We have to be transparent with people, we have to talk about stuff, but we always have to start by listening, understanding and trying to correct the distortions that people may be having," said Dr. Francisco Moreno, professor of psychiatry at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson.

An interprofessional team of researchers asked UArizona employees aged 50 and older what kind of support they need, then designed programs to provide it.

Health Sciences educator Lisa Quale of the Skin Cancer Institute says the wintertime is no time to ease up on protection from the sun.

Even as demand for COVID-19 vaccines massively outstripped supply, 553 doses of the vaccine had to be discarded at Maricopa County sites in the first month that vaccines were available. However, some public health experts say this is to be expected for a mass vaccination campaign. "The reality is that it's likely there is some wastage," said Dr. Shad Marvasti, director of the Public Health, Prevention and Population Health curriculum at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix.

Scientists say COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are trending down in Arizona and in many parts of the country. The Pima County Health Department says hospitals are still straining under the pandemic, but ICU bed availability has improved into the double digits. “The absolute number of cases and hospitalizations remains dangerously or critically high,” said University of Arizona Health Sciences researcher Dr. Joe Gerald.