COVID vaccine for M.V. residents now being administered at Lin’s

By VERNON ROBISON

The Progress

After more than a month of coordinating a whole series of community COVID-19 vaccination clinics for Moapa Valley residents, the Moapa Valley Fire District (MVFD) has finally passed the torch to the pharmacy department at Lin’s Marketplace in downtown Overton to continue the effort.

From here on out, appointments for COVID-19 vaccines may be scheduled by going to the Lin’s pharmacy website at vaccines.linsgrocery.com. Then click on “Nevada Appointments” and follow the directions to register. The vaccines are made available free of charge.

MVFD Chief Steven Neel said that the multiple community clinics, organized over the past month by him and his team, have administered about 1,000 vaccine shots to Moapa Valley residents. This has apparently covered all of the Tier 1 and Tier 2 members of the public who are interested in receiving the shot, Neel said.

“We seem to have reached a point in the clinics where there is not much interest left at this point,” Neel said. “We were holding that last clinic and having to make calls to people in the community getting them down to get vaccinated. But a lot of people just weren’t interested at this point.”

Thus far, Nevada has opened vaccination up to the top two priority Tiers specified in the state’s public health plan. That includes members of the public age 65 and up, essential workers, and those people, ages 18 and up, with underlying conditions constituting a health risk.

“We will finish off doing the second doses as already scheduled for those we have vaccinated in the clinics,” Neel said. “We want to make sure that all those folks get their second shots as planned. So there is no change in that. But from here on out, Lin’s will be the place to get vaccinated.”

Neel said that the pharmacy would continue to request 100 vaccine doses each week. These would administered to those in the community who register. Top priority would be given to those in the previously released tiers.

Tier 3, which includes all members of the general public over the age of 18, has not yet officially opened yet in Nevada. However, the Lin’s website will allow Tier 3 residents who wish to be vaccinated to place their names on a waiting list. If there are surplus doses, or if Tier 3 opens up, then the pharmacy will begin contacing those on the waiting list to verify residence and eligibility.

Neel reported that, of all the vaccines administered in Moapa Valley so far, only two recipients had suffered from allergic reactions to the shot.

“They were fairly minor reactions, too,” Neel said. “For both we just gave them Benadryl and things cleared up. We didn’t ever have to use the Epi-pens.”

As far as side effects, Neel said he had heard reports from people who had felt fatigued, achy and some who had even spiked a mild fever in the 24 hours after receiving the vaccine. But in all of these cases, the effects cleared up within 24 hours.

“I haven’t heard of anything more severe than that by way of side effects,” Neel said.