Carson Tahoe Health gets first doses of COVID-19 vaccine

Carson Tahoe Health received the first allotment of the COVID-19 vaccine Tuesday morning.

The hospital is the first in line in Carson City for the Pfizer Inc. vaccine, which arrived in Nevada on Monday.

CTH will administer the vaccine to its staff starting Wednesday morning, when the second half is expected to be delivered, for a total of 400 vaccines. The hospital anticipates vaccinating all personnel who want it over the next eight weeks, starting with those who work directly with COVID patients, said Diane Rush, director, Marketing & Communications, and public information officer.

“There is a light at the end of the tunnel as Carson Tahoe received our first batch of the initial COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine allotment, today, Dec. 15,” said Rush.

Rush said the hospital will receive more of the vaccine later as it becomes available from the state.

Carson City Health and Human Services is awaiting the next shipment of the vaccine, when the department will start to vaccinate other so-called tier 1 individuals: emergency medical services personnel, frontline public health workforce and volunteers, law enforcement and public safety, and local emergency operations managers/staff.

“Hospital staff and long-term care facility residents and staff need to be vaccinated before we receive the vaccine and are able to vaccinate the remainder of the tier,” said Jessica Rapp, public information officer, CCHSS.

CVS and Walgreens will be vaccinating residents and staff at long-term care facilities per an agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly every facility in the state has been matched up with a pharmacy, according to the Nevada playbook for the COVID-19 vaccination program.

Also among the first tier are state emergency operations staff, laboratory workers, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, outpatient and home health providers, deployed and mission critical personnel who play essential role in national security, and Nevada Department of Corrections staff.

There are a total of four tiers of individuals, ending with healthy adults, who will receive the vaccine as it is rolled out.

On Monday, Task Force Director Caleb Cage and Deputy Health Division Administrator Julia Peek asked people to remain cautious, continue to wear masks and practice other precautions, as it will be months before the vaccine is available for everyone.

“Because of the limited number of people who can get it, Nevadans really need to not consider the vaccine the silver bullet today,” said Peek. “I think we just need people not to get a level of comfort.”

The Appeal’s Geoff Dornan contributed to this report.