More than 25,000 Nevadans vaccinated as of Wednesday

More than 25,200 Nevadans have been vaccinated against the coronavirus as of Wednesday.

Shannon Bennett, who runs the state immunization program, said those are frontline health care workers and long-term care residents and staff. She said that includes some 20,000 Pfizer vaccines and another 5,000 Moderna vaccines.

Bennett said the second doses for those people have already been ordered to complete the process for those workers. She also said those aged 75 and over will get vaccinated early as well.

Gov. Steve Sisolak said unlike some other states that have been having problems getting needles into people’s arms, the Nevada distribution system is working well.

“So far we’ve seen a smooth delivery process,” he said.

He said once the first doses were delivered, “hospitals immediately went to work lining up folks to get the vaccine.”

Bennett too said “the process is going well.”

She said staff is busily working out how many doses to allocate and where to send them. The medical workforce is handling the healthcare workers while private pharmacies are vaccinating supportive living facilities and long term care facilities.

Asked about the downtown Fremont Street Experience plan to have some 14,000 people for a New Year’s Eve back in Las Vegas, Sisolak said any event attracting a large number of people greatly increases the risk of a surge. He said it’s difficult under any circumstances to prevent gatherings, “but to organize and promote a gathering with a ticket or fee, that’s just irresponsible.”

To get around restrictions limiting gatherings to no more than 50 people, promoters of that event have billed it as a protest protected by First Amendment rights.

“The science says the more people in a gathering, it’s guaranteed more people are going to have COVID,” Sisolak said. “The larger the group of people, the larger the number who will get sick and, sadly, a number of those will die.”

He said while vaccines are arriving and people getting immunized, “the virus is still with us.” He said it’s important to avoid gatherings, wear a mask at all times in public, sanitize hands and maintain social distancing until the virus is controlled.

He said state and local enforcement teams will be out in force New Year’s Eve to try to prevent gatherings that violate the rules.

As of Wednesday, Nevada had 222,594 confirmed infections with the rolling daily average at 1,654 cases. The positivity rate ticked up over the past couple of days, to 20.1 percent. There are currently 1,988 people hospitalized with the virus.