State Farm Stadium on Monday will begin operating as 24-hour-a-day, drive-through vaccination site. The stadium will have the capacity to vaccinate 6,000 people per day. 

Since mid-December, Arizona has used only about a third of the 419,000 doses of vaccines it’s received from the CDC. Those doses have gone to health care workers and people in long-term care facilities.

But adults 75 and older, school staff and law enforcement will have access to coronavirus vaccines next week as Maricopa County enters phase 1B of its vaccination plan, and the state's health department hopes to begin vaccinating thousands more Arizonans per day. 

"We anticipate that this [1B] population will be at least triple the size of phase 1A," said Dr. Cara Christ, director of Arizona's Department of Health Services in a news conference Friday. 

Maricopa County medical director Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine said in a news conference Wednesday health care workers and others in the 1A group are still being vaccinated, so people in the 1B group may not be able to get an appointment right away when appointments open.

Appointments will be required at the State Farm Stadium site.  

“Please do not drive over," Christ said. "We’re doing a soft launch on Monday with appointments opening to the Phase 1B prioritized group on Tuesday.”

Starting Monday, those in the 1B group will be able to request vaccine appointments online, or by calling 211. As more vaccinations locations open, the state health department is updating appointment information on its website.