First shipment of COVID-19 vaccine received by Washoe County Health District

Health District working with hospitals on distribution

Dec. 15, 2020. Reno/Sparks, NV – The Washoe County Health District received its first shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine and is working to help the regional hospitals administer the vaccine to frontline healthcare workers as soon as possible.

The shipment included 3,655 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for Washoe County, which are now 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 provide vaccine administration on their own or utilize the drive through Point of Dispensing (POD) located at the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center.

The COVID-19 vaccine is currently available only for health care workers and others 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.

For more information about the COVID-19 vaccine in Washoe County, go to our website.

To watch the delivery, see this link. If you would like a copy of the video file, email soxarart@washoecounty.us.