According to the state’s COVID-19 Task Force, the estimated 301,700 hospitality workers in Nevada could be their turn to receive one of three proven COVID-19 vaccinations in the next two weeks.
Back in January, Candice McDaniel of the Nevada Department of Health announced that Nevadans would be vaccinated on two lanes – one based on age and one based on industry and exposure to COVID-19. Restaurant workers, food preparation workers, and casino and resort workers are some of the jobs that qualify as front-line workers, but have yet to register for a vaccination center.
In January, the Gaming Control Board surveyed casino operators to determine whether employees who have direct contact with customers were willing to be vaccinated.
The move could help the state recover faster from the 2020 tourism decline. Business and convention tourism declined from 6.6 million convention attendees in 2019 to 1.7 million in 2020, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Tourism fell by a total of 54.5 percent in 2020.
Once it has been proven that hospitality workers are receiving either the first of two doses from Moderna or Pfizer or the single-dose vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, they will drive to huge vaccination sites at the Cashman Center or the Las Vegas Convention Center, according to the Southern Nevada Health District .
The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 plans to educate its 60,000+ members in Nevada on how to get vaccinated in due course. „Color communities, where the majority of COVID-19 infection rates and deaths from the virus occur, need equitable access to the vaccine,” said a press release from the culinary association.
As of December, the Southern Nevada Health District administered 489,600 vaccines, including 325,120 first doses and 164,480 second doses. As of Wednesday, the health department did not receive the first shipment of the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine, which was detected by the FDA last weekend.
The authorization was extended this week Inclusion of all remaining categories in the front-line community support group and the front-line supply chain and logistics group, including grocery store employees. The groups currently eligible to receive the vaccine include people aged 65 and over, healthcare workers, and people in the frontline public safety and security group, in addition to those in these professions.
Southern Nevada recorded 316 new cases of COVID-19 on March 3, 37 people were hospitalized and 16 died. Since the pandemic began more than a year ago, 3,903 people have died as a result of COVID-19. 227,771 people are infected in southern Nevada.
• How Coronavirus Affects Las Vegas Food and Restaurants [ELV]
alinaf