Earlier this week, the Arizona National Guard began training the first wave of civilian volunteers who will administer the COVID-19 vaccine to Arizonans across the state.

Many of those volunteers started vaccinating some of the public on Wednesday. 

One of the challenges the state will have to deal with is a shortage of medical personnel who can actually administer the shot.

"And the reason for that is that most of them are employed in the healthcare field," said Col. Tom Leeper, the Task Force Medical Commander with the Arizona National Guard. "So we were contacted by some volunteers, that said, 'Hey, we want to join the fight. We're concerned about what's happening in our state and our communities. We're retired health care professionals, what can we do?' "

Leeper says they worked with the Arizona Department of Health to quickly train and onboard the volunteers.

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