Mesquite Vaccine Clinics Continue This Week For Age 65+

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

Vaccinations for members of the general public over the age of 65 will continue this week in the city of Mesquite. Clinics will still be held at the Rising Star Field House located at 333 N. Sandhill Blvd on Wednesday through Friday, March 3-5 beginning at 7:30 am to 12:30 pm each day.

“We still have appointment times available for this week,” said Mesa View Regional Hospital spokesman Rob Fuller. “But appointments are still being limited to just the segment of the public 65 and older.”

Fuller explained that state and county health officials had not yet opened the vaccines to the next age group ban. He did say that a change in that age band seemed to be in the works, though.

Originally, the next group of the general public to receive vaccine was to be people ages 18-64 who had underlying conditions posing a significant health risk. But changes to that strategy are being considered at this time, Fuller said.

“Now they are talking about the next phase dropping to age 55 for a time,” Fuller said. “So we are just waiting to get the word on how to proceed.”

In the meantime, the vaccination clinics have stayed busy in Mesquite. Last week’s clinic days saw about 2,000 doses of vaccine administered to residents over 65.
“It all went really well,” Fuller said. “And we are poised to do another 2,000 this week.”

Fuller said that around 1,600 appointments are already booked for this week’s clinics. That leaves around 400 slots still available, he said.

The online scheduling platform at health.mesquitenv.gov has been live since last Tuesday. On Monday afternoon, Fuller said that site administrators were expecting the platform to be closed down for a time on Monday night. But it would be live again by 7:30 am on Tuesday, Mar. 2, he said.

“We are looking forward to another busy week of vaccinating people in Mesquite,” Fuller said.