Senate Republicans are taking credit for standing up to a new push by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to have kids vaccinated against Covid before attending school.

An increasing number of vaccine deniers coupled with one of the easiest opt-out provisions in the nation has left Arizona with close to one out of every 10 kindergartners unprotected against key childhood diseases.

Gov. Doug Ducey is doubling down in his fight with public schools over their virus policies, offering cash to parents to send their kids to private or parochial schools if a school - or even a classroom - has to shut down.

Without additional details, "line of duty" doesn't tell the public much about how a uniformed federal officer died. And the recent use of "line of duty" to describe Covid deaths is coming at a time that vaccines are widely available, but vaccine mandates face resistance from some law enforcement officers, including pushback from the union representing Border Patrol agents. 

Dr. Cara Christ, the Arizona state health director who helped lead the state through the Covid pandemic, is leaving her post to join Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona.

Gov. Doug Ducey has forbade public universities and community colleges from requiring that students and staff wear masks and get tested regularly for Covid.

If Arizona’s government were ever to shut down, 2021 would be the year.

To his harshest critics, Gov. Doug Ducey’s efforts largely failed, and many directly blame him for the deaths of more than 16,000 Arizonans. To his loyal supporters, he’s getting results. Arizona’s economy is one of the strongest in the nation and the vaccine rollout has already inoculated at least 20% of the state’s population.

The Arizona Department of Health Services launched its vaccine data dashboard February 9, almost 60 days since administering the first shot and without a plethora of information.

Nearly a month after vaccines have become available here a quarter of Arizonans remain unwilling to get inoculated against Covid.