Feds: Nevada to get 164,150 COVID-19 vaccine doses in December

The federal government has notified Nevada health officials the state will receive 164,150 doses of coronavirus vaccines in December.

“This initial allocation should cover the majority of the Tier 1 individuals,” according to a release issued by the governor’s health response office.

Tier one starts with healthcare workers, skilled nursing staff and residents of those facilities as well as those at increased risk for severe illness from the virus — those with underlying conditions and the elderly. Also on the list are workers in other professions deemed essential to societal functioning and public health such as first responders, teachers and correctional staff.

The first deliveries will consist of 91,650 doses of the Pfizer vaccine and 72,500 doses of the Moderna vaccine.

Two doses are required of both those vaccines to be fully effective and must be administered three to four weeks after the first shot.

The press release said they anticipate there will be enough vaccine doses available in the second and third phases of the distribution to vaccinate every Nevadan who wants it.

When the vaccines become available to the general public, the notification says there will be administration sites at healthcare provider offices, outpatient clinics, public health clinics, community nursing offices in rural counties, Rural Health Centers, pharmacies, hospitals, occupational health clinics and temporary or mobile clinics.

The vaccines will come to the state after the federal review and approval process by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control. The FDA meets to decide on the Pfizer vaccine Dec. 10 and the Moderna vaccine Dec. 17.