Weekly COVID-19 Vaccine Community Newsletter – Feb. 25, 2021
COVID-19 vaccine myths addressed
Feb. 25, 2021. Reno/Sparks, NV – The Regional Information Center is providing a COVID-19 vaccine community newsletter in Washoe County to help educate residents on the mass vaccination effort by the COVID-19 Response Team and community partners.
Update from the COVID-19 Response Team
Providers in Washoe County have administered 107,425 COVID-19 vaccines overall (38,006 second doses), with 16,559 happening between Feb. 18-24, 2021. Visit the State of Nevada’s vaccine dashboard to see more. You can also now see a new breakdown of vaccines by zip code in Washoe County.
Seniors 65 years and older up next for vaccines
Seniors 65 years and older in Washoe County are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. When more vaccine doses arrive, the Washoe County Health District will start randomly selecting seniors 65+ who are on the senior COVID-19 vaccine waiting list to receive the vaccine at the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center.
The Washoe County Health District has extended invitations via email and over the phone to more than 25,000 seniors 70 years and older who signed up for the senior COVID-19 wait list. About 10,000 seniors 70+ were either called or sent an email earlier this week with the opportunity to sign up for an appointment. Because all seniors on the list were invited, the COVID-19 Response Team was permitted to open eligibility to the next group under the General Population lane of the State’s COVID-19 playbook, which is Nevadans aged 65-69 years.
If you are aged 65-69 and have already signed up for the wait list, you do not have to sign up again.
Seniors 70 years and older who were on the waiting list but didn’t receive a call or email are asked to re-submit the form to be on the waiting list, email covidvaccine@washoecounty.us or call 775-328-2427 (Due to high call volume, you could be put on hold.). The Health District will pull recent submissions to ensure fairness in making sure everyone who is on the list is contacted via email or phone. If you received an email invite but think it might be spam, please call or email us.
The following partners are also scheduling appointments for Seniors 65 and older:
- Smith’s – Sign up onlineor call 1-800-576-4377
- Walgreens – Sign up onlineor call 1–800–925–4733
- Walmart – Sign up online
- Sam’s Club – Sign up online
- Washoe County Health District – Sign up for the senior wait listor call 775-328-2427
- Renown Health – Sign up for MyChartor call 775-982-2781
- Saint Mary’s – Call 775-770-3000
- Community Health Alliance – Sign up onlineor call 775-336-3035
- VA Hospital – Sign up onlineor call 775-786-7200
- Sparks Fire Department – Sign up online
Walmart to distribute 1,100 COVID-19 vaccine doses this weekend
Beginning Friday, the Kietzke Lane Walmart in Reno will host a COVID-19 vaccine POD where they will distribute 1,100 doses to Seniors 65 and older. Sign up online.
Why we need a vaccine
Approved vaccines protect people by lowering their chances of getting seriously ill from COVID-19. Simply put: if enough Nevadans get vaccinated, we can keep our businesses, restaurants, casinos and schools open and return to the things we miss and move toward normalcy. This creates herd immunity, which makes it hard for the disease to spread from person to person. Although experts do not yet know what percentage of people would need to get vaccinated to achieve herd immunity to COVID-19, we do know that every dose counts and helps us get one step closer to the ending the pandemic. Learn more from Immunize Nevada.
Myth Busters: Vaccine Expiration
You may have heard that there is a three-month expiration on the vaccine, but that is not true. When you get your vaccine, there is a LOT # and expiration date on the vaccination record card you receive – but that date is for the shelf life of the vaccine. It does NOT mean that it only provides three months of protection against COVID-19. Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines could potentially offer immunity against COVID-19 for two to three years, but experts are continuing to work to learn more. What they do know is that it is effective at keeping you from getting sick.
In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has noted that people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 for two weeks, meaning they have received two doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, can forego quarantine if they are exposed to someone infected with the virus.
However, that doesn’t mean you should stop taking precautions. We encourage you to continue to protect yourself and others by wearing a mask, social distancing and washing your hands.
For all COVID-19 Vaccine questions, please visit our regional website, www.COVID19WashoeVaccine.com.
Please share: If you know of someone who wants to receive this newsletter, pass along the link to sign up. https://covid19washoe.com/signup/
The COVID-19 Regional Information Center is working together to deliver COVID-19 community updates in a unified manner. While press releases are only sent periodically for significant events, you can always get daily results on our website, https://covid19washoe.com/, our COVID-19 Dashboard or by following us on Twitter @COVID19Washoe. The entities include: City of Reno, City of Sparks, North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District, Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, Regional Transportation Commission, REMSA, Reno Sparks Indian Colony, Reno Police Department, Reno Fire Department, Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District, University of Nevada, Reno, Washoe County, Washoe County Health District, Washoe County School District and Washoe County Sheriff’s Office. Also in the group are the area hospitals, Northern Nevada Medical Center, Renown Health and Saint Mary’s.