CARSON CITY (KTNV) — The Nevada Health Response Team released an explainer on the state's vaccine allocation plans on Tuesday.
Officials say the state is distributing COVID-19 vaccine doses to counties based on population size to immunize residents as quickly as doses are received.
A low number of doses of COVID-19 vaccines are received by Nevada from the federal government each week, according to the Nevada Health Response team, with 44,925 first doses allocated for the week of Feb. 8.
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To relieve some of the pressure on state and local public health systems, 8,400 of those doses were allocated to select pharmacies statewide - leaving 36,525 available to distribute to vaccinating providers in the state's 17 counties for the week.
Several pharmacies opened for appointments to Nevada seniors on Jan. 20.
The population of each county is being considered as those doses are shared across the state. And the Nevada State Immunization Program (NSIP) says its staff is using a reduction methodology that considers the proportion of the state's population living in each county.
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Each week counties will submit their vaccine request to the program for the following week. The NSIP staff then assess the state's weekly allocation against the submitted requests.
If the number of requests exceeds the state's allocation, cuts are made equitably based on population.
"We commend local emergency managers, community health nurses, local health authorities and all the other providers and leaders stepping up each week to help their communities with the COVID-19 vaccine response," said Nevada State Immunization Program Manager Shannon Bennett. "Their response is inspiring."
NSIP encourages Nevadans to reach out to the seniors they know to ensure they have a plan and understand how vaccination appointments can be made.
More information is also available here.
