Friday, April 23, 2021 | 1:27 p.m.
Getting your COVID-19 vaccine won’t require leaving the comforts of your vehicle starting May 11 in Southern Nevada.
The first drive-thru COVID-19 vaccination clinic will open May 11 in the parking lot of Texas Station, officials announced today.
The Nevada National Guard and Southern Nevada Health District will operate the site, which will offer Pfizer shots for six weeks — the first three weeks for initial doses; the second half for the second doses. The clinic will operate by appointment from 7 a.m.-noon seven days a week.
Health district official Greg Cassell said organizers are planning to give about 1,000 shots a day at the clinic. Texas Station is located at 2101 Texas Star Lane, near Rancho Drive and Lake Mead Boulevard. The casino is shuttered.
“If the appetite is there by the public, we can go up to 1,200, maybe a little more,” he said.
Cassell said the drive-thru option, the county’s first large-scale drive-thru coronavirus shot clinic, could capture people who aren’t quite homebound but who still want a convenient, quieter experience.
He said many homebound vaccine recipients, who receive their shots through a slower, more tailored process, have also said they would have taken advantage of a drive-thru.
North Las Vegas City Councilman Scott Black, who sits on the health district’s board of directors, said a single-day drive-thru clinic a few weeks ago at North Las Vegas City Hall drew about 500 people.
Health district clinical services chief Joann Rupiper said if people are still thinking about getting vaccinated, now is the time. Not only is Clark County incentivizing inoculation by tying full reopening to 60% of the population being at least partially vaccinated, but the health district will begin its regular back-to-school childhood shot clinics in July.
“The time for procrastination is over,” Rupiper said.
The Texas Station site will follow up on the planned May 5 closure of the mass vaccination clinic at Cashman Center, which the health department attributes to more widespread vaccination allowing public health organizers to shift gears. Indoor large-scale operations will continue at the Las Vegas Convention Center clinic, alongside smaller, targeted events like pop-up clinics and strike teams.
