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Health District has administered about 5,500 COVID-19 vaccines

Jan 5, 2021 | Press Release

Health District has administered about 5,500 COVID-19 vaccines

Health District Hotline:
775.328.2427

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Jan. 5, 2021. Reno/Sparks, NV – The Washoe County Health District is providing an update on COVID-19 vaccine administration. The Health District, which is one of several organizations administrating the COVID-19 vaccine in Washoe County, is working with the State on providing county-wide vaccine numbers and that data will be released as soon as it’s available.

As of Jan. 4, 2021, the Washoe County Health District (WCHD) is providing the following COVID-19 vaccine update:

  • Overall Washoe County has received 20,760 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, which include both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccine.
    • 8,370 doses were designated for the Health District to administer
    • 12,390 doses were allocated to partners in Washoe County, such as acute care hospitals, emergency medical services providers like REMSA and fire departments, and other health care providers
  • WCHD has administered about 5,500 COVID-19 vaccines at the Point of Dispensing (POD) in the east parking lot of the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center over the period of 10 days.
    • That number is approximate because each vial of COVID-19 has a certain number of doses that manually have to be taken out, and the data entry and record keeping involved is extensive. The COVID-19 Regional Response Team is identifying staff to help with data entry to make sure the accurate number of doses are reported to the state and federal governments in an orderly fashion.
  • WCHD has 102 doses of Pfizer and 2,200 doses of Moderna vaccines on hand stored securely.

The POD site at the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center recently underwent upgrades to include four roof structures to allow staff to administer vaccine in inclement weather. There are six traffic lanes which at maximum capacity lead to 12 vaccination bays. In total, 12 nurses can vaccinate at the same time. On average, each nurse has been able to vaccinate about 17 people per hour, for a total of 204 vaccination per hour. We’re constantly working to improve efficiencies.

The Health District is operating the POD four days a week with operational periods of 4-6 hours. We are planning the transition to Tier 2 (find more information on vaccine tiers in Washoe County here) but no information is available at this time. The Health District is one of several entities working to administer the vaccination, which includes area pharmacies. Due to the logistical challenges of inoculating a population of 470,000, we’re working as quickly and safely as possible to vaccinate as many people as possible.

For more information on the COVID-19 vaccine, please go here.

The Washoe County Health District is nationally accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board and has jurisdiction over all public health matters in Reno, Sparks, and Washoe County through the policy-making Washoe County District Board of Health. The District consists of five divisions: Administrative Health Services, Air Quality Management, Community and Clinical Health Services, Environmental Health Services and Epidemiology & Public Health Preparedness. More info can be found here.