Washoe County Health District’s James English said more than 1,600 first doses and 2,140 second doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered in the last several days by the health district.
On Monday, an additional 800 first dose vaccine appointments were planned, and on Tuesday, the district intends to administer more than 1,000 doses of the Janssen / Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine. English said the health district will be operating its point of distribution (POD) six days a week for the next several weeks.
This week’s allotment of vaccines for Washoe County is 9,550.
More than 16% of Washoe County residents have received their first dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine—and more than 9% of residents have been fully vaccinated. These figures are basically on par with the national average.
English said the district is doing well with second-dose appointments and he estimates between 95% and 97% of people are coming back to receive their second doses within the respective time frames advised for the Pfizer (21 days) and Moderna (28 days) vaccines.
According to English, Truckee Meadows Fire will be in Gerlach on Tuesday to vaccinate any residents there who are eligible because of their age or status as an essential worker.
According to district spokesperson Scott Oxarart, the health district recently sent more than 4,000 emails to seniors notifying them of their ability to schedule a vaccine appointment. He asked people in the community to check in with the seniors they know to make sure they’re checking their emails—and also their spam folders—to see if they’ve received the invite.
Melodie Osborn, chief nursing officer for Renown Health, said the hospital has administered more than 38,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine. This week, she said, the hospital intends to administer 2,100 first doses and 1,500 second doses of the vaccine. She said the hospital is also seeing a high percentage of people coming in for their second doses on time.
Osborn advised people who are eligible for the vaccine to visit the hospital’s website and create a MyChart account to be placed on the waiting list to receive one. She said people who’ve done so already are on the waiting list and advised them to be patient. Additional information and resources can also be found at covid.renown.org.
The state is also working to expand the number of providers administering the vaccines.
Karissa Loper, deputy bureau chief at Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health, Bureau of Child, Family & Community Wellness, said the state’s immunization program is planning to recruit additional providers to administer COVID-19 vaccines as supplies increase in the coming months. She said, for the time being, the immunization program is advising local jurisdictions across the state to use the Janssen vaccine for off-site and mobile vaccine PODs since it does not require the same super-cold storage as the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today released new guidelines saying people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can safely visit with other vaccinated people and small groups of unvaccinated people in some circumstances, but there are still important safety precautions needed. The guidance states that a small group of fully vaccinated people can hang out together without masks or social distancing.
