Photo By Staff Sgt. Ryan Getsie | Spc. Demetrie Barnett with Joint Task Force 17 administers the Pfizer vaccine to local...... read more read more
LAS VEGAS – Joint Task Force 17 Soldiers and Airman have been mobilized since mid January to assist and administer COVID-19 vaccines throughout the Las Vegas valley.
As of Feb. 16, the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) has reported that over 304,000 doses have been administered in Clark County, with nearly 65,000 residents who have received both doses. According to 2019 records there are over 2.2 million residents that live in the county, so there is still a lot of work ahead for the Task Force and their partners, officials said.
In recent weeks, Las Vegas opened up several Points of Distribution (POD’s) under the guidance of both the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the SNHD.
“We’re helping to support the distribution of the vaccine,” North Las Vegas Deputy Fire Chief Travis Anderson said. “We’ve opened up this POD for the Northeast region of Las Vegas. We’re administering close to two thousand doses of the vaccine per day.”
Anderson works as the incident commander for the Canyon Springs High School POD and has over a dozen Nevada Guard Task Force personnel and over 20 volunteers that he manages at the site.
“The communication between everyone has been awesome,” said Sgt. Anna Sahagun, who works as the Guard’s supervisor at the Canyon Springs site. “Everybody is very friendly and it’s easy to resolve issues as they arise. I think that contributes to the success here – we work together as a team.”
According to the SNHD’s COVID-19 Playbook there are five priority groups that are currently available to receive the vaccine: healthcare workers, Nevadans 70 years and older, Nevadans 65-69 years, public safety and security, and frontline community support.
The Silver State recently hit a milestone of roughly 500,000 vaccines distributed, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Despite shipping challenges due to the severe weather that struck parts of the Midwest, Nevada currently has the ninth highest utilization rate in the country. It’s using 91% of its allocated vaccines compared to the current national average of 85%, Nevada health officials said this week.
“The biggest challenge is not knowing when we will be getting more vaccines,” Anderson said. “Because there are so many community partners working here it’s hard to turn it off and then back on again if the vaccines become unavailable again.”
Despite these challenges, JTF 17 Soldiers and Airmen continue their missions and help to stand up new POD’s throughout the valley and in surrounding areas. Just recently, four Senior Centers opened up: Coleman, Parkdale, Winchester and Flamingo. Over 950 residents were vaccinated in the first week since the strike teams began operations Feb. 16. Their effort to vaccinate our most vulnerable citizens remains a constant focus.
1st Lt. Theodore McCord is the JTF 17 strike team officer in charge of the mobile POD’s at the senior centers. His team consists of 12 personnel and they assist with registrations, appointments and vaccinations.
“These locations are strategically placed throughout the city,” McCord said. “We want to be able to facilitate all four areas of the valley: Northwest, Northeast, Southwest, and Southeast.”
On Wednesday, Feb. 17, a separate group of JTF 17 personnel helped open and operate the COVID-19 POD at Desert Pines High School. In just three days this location saw over 1,900 people in that community vaccinated. More locations are scheduled in the weeks ahead.
“This is a great opportunity for me to serve my community,” McCord said. “I volunteer at my church at least four times a week, but being able to protect my community in this capacity and helping people get vaccinated is just an added blessing.”
For more information please visit: https://covid.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org/vaccine/distribution/
| Date Taken: | 02.26.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 02.26.2021 22:49 |
| Story ID: | 390124 |
| Location: | LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, US |
| Web Views: | 219 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Nevada Guard leads effort in COVID-19 vaccinations in Las Vegas, by SSG Ryan Getsie, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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