UPDATE: Renown started administering the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to its frontline workers on Thursday. Jose Luis Martinez is a Technician in Renown's Alternate Care Site, and deals with COVID patients every day. He was the first in his hospital to get the shot.

"It gives me hope," Martinez said. "I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I get to see, hopefully moving forward, everyone getting back together."

Renown is partnering with Washoe County, setting up a point of dispensing (POD) at the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center. 450 front line workers are scheduled to get the vaccine by the end of Thursday. The POD is a drive-through, so the recipients do not have to leave their car.

"I think it's putting safety first," Martinez said. "We don't want to have too much contact and I think that's the best way right now."

"It's very organized," Dr. Eddy Akbar, Division Chief for Renown Hospital Medicine said. "From the time we checked in to getting our vaccinations done, today, it was outstanding."

Renown has 3,100 doses from Washoe County's initial allocations. The plan is to administer those for the next five days. Akbar says getting the vaccine will make the work place safer. He is urging others to get the vaccine.

"For those at the front line, it hasn't been the easiest month," Akbar said. "The pandemic hasn't been easy. It hasn't been easy on anyone so I'm grateful we are here today and it just shows us, humanity wins."

This comes a day after multiple other hospitals started its vaccination processes.

Carson Tahoe Health has started administering COVID-19 Pfizer vaccines to frontline health care workers. It will distribute 400 doses over the coming days. It expects to vaccinate all 2,000 employees and medical staff within eight weeks.

Kathy Merrill is the first employee at Carson Tahoe Health to get the vaccination on Wednesday. 

"The critical care scene right now is just so dire and we're just looking to show some hope and show some love to our community," Merrill, ICU Nurse at Carson Tahoe Health said.

"I feel like as a medical provider, we can set the tone for our community and let them know that this is how we're going to beat the virus," Ian Greenlee, ICU Nurse at Carson Tahoe Health said.

St. Mary's Regional Medical Center's vaccination efforts are also underway, with 260 doses of Pfizer's vaccine ready to go.

"I'm so excited," Morgan Strohschein, Nurse at Saint Mary's said. "You get to move on and like, you just move on with our lives again. I miss being with people."

"It's great," Jenna Purkiss, Surgical Nurse at Saint Mary's said. "I have been looking forward to it and I really hope that it makes a difference for everybody."

Incline Village Community Hospital is also expected to receive vaccines on Wednesday, says Kevin Dick of Washoe County Health District. 

Jamii Uboldi, spokesperson for Northern Nevada Medical Center, released this statement below:

“Northern Nevada Medical Center has received an allocation of the new Pfizer vaccine for COVID-19. As directed by the CDC and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), we have begun administering the vaccine to our front-line healthcare workers. We have established a vaccination clinic per CDC guidelines. While the initial supply of the new vaccines will be limited, it is undeniably encouraging news that these new vaccines will help in society’s fight against the pandemic.”

The Reno-Sparks Tribal Health Center announced Wednesday they have received their first 50 doses of the COVID-19 Pfizer vaccine. The first vaccination were administered around 3 p.m. It was the very first COVID-19 vaccine administration for Nevada Tribes. 

 

Nevada Rural Hospital Partners is an alliance of 12 small and rural hospitals throughout Nevada. They include hospitals in Winnemucca, Battle Mountain, Ely, Caliente, Boulder City, Pahrump, Hawthorne, Carson Valley, Yerington, Incline Village, Fallon and Lovelock. Many of them started vaccinating their staff, Wednesday morning.

The Health District received its first shipment early Tuesday morning. 

The shipment included 3,655 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, which were stored in an ultra-cold freezer at the Health District that can keep the vaccine at -70°C as required. The total doses in the shipment was 3,900, which included 245 additional doses that will be distributed by the State of Nevada to hospitals outside of Washoe County.

The Health District is working with local hospitals on distribution, which will either operate vaccine administration on their own or work with the Health District.

The COVID-19 vaccine is currently available only for health care workers and other in the Tier 1 Critical Infrastructure Workforce by Priority Order, per the State’s COVID-19 Vaccination Program Nevada’s Playbook for Statewide Operations, which outlines which people get the vaccine first. It is expected that members of the general public will receive the vaccine later this Spring.

According to Dick, the efficacy of the first dose of the vaccine is about 52%. The booster dose is to be administered after 21 days. 

Nevada reported a record 57 deaths on Wednesday, nearing 195,000 total cases.