Southern Nevadans urged to get vaccine before eligibility expands
Clark County health officials on Wednesday urged eligible residents to urge vaccinated against COVID-19 now before shots are offered to a broader swath of the community and appointments potentially become harder to seek out.
That will begin to happen Monday when people age 16 to 64 with medical conditions that put them in danger for complications from COVID-19 will become eligible for the vaccine. On April 5, everyone 16 and older will become eligible, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak announced at a daily press conference.
“Don’t wait until the crowds become overwhelming,” JoAnn Rupiper, director of clinical services for the Southern Nevada Health District, said during a news briefing before the governor’s announcement. “Even though we’re very busy, we still have appointments open.”
A check of the health district’s appointment portal within the morning found many same-day appointments available. The health district’s Greg Cassell said that appointments typically become filled because the day progresses, with the agency sometimes contacting hospitality industry representatives and political leaders to assist spread the word about availability.
Yet district officials said demand for vaccinations remains high. With the availability of vaccines increasing, vaccination sites can administer more shots daily now than they were earlier this year when there have been severe appointment bottlenecks.
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Larger vaccination sites have gone from administering 4,000 shots per day to six,000, Cassell said. On Saturday, the Cashman Center vaccination site administered quite 6,300 shots, and therefore the Las Vegas Convention Center site quite 5,300, he said.
“We’re doing a better capacity in each location, so, yes, the demand is there,” he said.
This week, pharmacies also began to administer vaccines to people age 55 to 64 with medical conditions which may place them at higher risk for complications from COVID-19.
Clark County this month also opened eligibility to those within the hospitality industry, including casino workers, also on people within the foodservice industry, including restaurant workers.
Many other occupational groups already were eligible, starting from health care and agricultural workers to government employees. Nevadans 65 and older are also eligible to support their age.
The district intends to extend the hours of operation at vaccination sites by shifting personnel faraway from a minimum of one site for COVID-19 testing. it's performing on identifying a contractor to require over operations at a testing site at UNLV, freeing up 50 members of the Nevada National Guard to figure at a vaccination site, Cassell said.
Since vaccinations began in mid-December, nearly 477,000 first doses of vaccine are administered and quite 242,000-second doses through public vaccination sites and pharmacies in Clark County.
The VA Southern Nevada Health Care System also has administered quite 20,000 first doses, almost 13,000-second doses, and shut to 500 doses of the one-dose Johnson &Johnson vaccine, spokesman John Archiquette said.
From March 10 to 17, health district sites administered nearly 81,000 doses of vaccine — the foremost in any week so far. In contrast, from Feb. 24 to March 3, the district gave nearly 59,0000 shots. From March 3 to 10, quite 47,000 shots were administered.
“We just want to strongly encourage everybody eligible to urge out there and obtain their shot,” Cassell said. “The closer that we get to our goal of herd immunity, we’ll get everybody back to figure, get our city back open, and protect our loved ones, our families, our friends, and every one of our community.”
Contact Mary Hynes at mhynes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @MaryHynes1 on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Michael Scott Davidson contributed to the present report.
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