Historic Westside gets 1st pop-up COVID-19 vaccine clinic

Older residents of the Historic Westside of Las Vegas and elders from other parts of the valley lined up Wednesday for the chance to get doses of the COVID-19 vaccine at a pop-up clinic in the predominantly Black community.

The by-appointment-only clinic for those 70 and up will operate through Friday at the Doolittle Senior Center, 1930 N. J St. But appointments were gone by the beginning of the week after the Southern Nevada Health District posted information on its coronavirus scheduling page.

The clinic operated by the health district in partnership with the City of Las Vegas, Roseman University, Touro University and Nevada State College, will administer 300 shots on each of its remaining two days, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. or until available doses are gone.

Dr. Fermin Leguen, the health district’s chief medical officer, said at a news briefing Wednesday that recent pop-up clinics around the city and beyond were initiated to target populations that are underrepresented in terms of receiving the vaccine. That certainly applies to the Historic Westside, as only 4.9 percent of those who have received doses in Clark County so far were Black, according to health district data.

“The idea is … if we allocate a thousand shots, a thousand shots go to people who live (there),” Leguen said.

That didn’t appear to be the case at the first day of operations at the Doolittle center, as seven of the eight people interviewed by a Review-Journal reporter said they were from other parts of the Las Vegas Valley.

“My daughter found this place through an app and made the appointment for me,” said Pearlie Walker, 72, who traveled from southwest Las Vegas to stand in a line 25 to 30 deep and receive her shot. “… You know, I have diabetes and high blood pressure so getting this is not just for the protection of myself but for my daughter, my son — my entire family.”

Also in the line before it dissipated in late morning was Michael Douglas, 72, the first African American to serve as a justice on the Nevada Supreme Court.

“My wife and I have tried for two weeks to get an appointment; we were surprised to get both of us in today,” he said after driving from Spring Valley to receive his shot. “This day is important to us, it means we can heal faster and are protected — this is a part of the effort that’ll help us move forward in our lives.”

City Councilman Cedric Crear, who represents the Historic Westside, said he had no problem with outside residents taking advantage of the clinic.

“The intention is to target the folks in the Historic Westside, but we also don’t want to exclude anyone, so we kept it open,”

he said. “The key is that we need more vaccinations to offer people more appointments. We’re not trying to be exclusive. Health care is good for everybody.”

Contact Mya Constantino at mconstantino@reviewjournal.com. Follow @searchingformya on Twitter.