Vaccine hunters get creative to get their shots

Angie McMeins drove to the Heritage Park Senior Facility in Henderson at 7 a.m., hoping to get her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine even though she wasn’t yet eligible to receive a shot. A worker handed her a ticket with the number “19” on it and told her to come back at 1:40 p.m.

When she did, staff began calling numbers and admitting anyone on the list — whether or not they were members of groups eligible to receive the vaccine — to get their shots.

“They started letting us in within maybe 10 minutes of arrival,” she said. “It was amazing.”

With demand for vaccine again strong due to the recent expansion of eligibility to include hospitality and food services workers as well as Nevadans 55 and older with underlying health conditions, vaccine-craving but ineligible Southern Nevadans are once more getting creative to get their shots.

McMeins, 50, got hers after learning about the opportunity from a Facebook group called “Las Vegas Vaccine Hunters.” The group was created on Feb. 1 and had more than 2,400 members as of Wednesday. In addition to posting about potential openings to get a vaccine, members also exchange information about the vaccines, potential side effects and other related topics.

Pursuing ‘waste doses’

Most of the discussion is about “waste doses,” which the group describes as “shots that are about to expire or be discarded,” but members also share advice on other ways to get the vaccine without signing up for an appointment.

Members will post about places they’ve had success, and others will chime in with questions or additional information. Posts direct people to a wide range of sites and clinics, including Walmart or CVS locations.

There’s also a lot of talk about the mass vaccination clinic at Cashman Center, where a Review-Journal reporter on Tuesday witnessed the process of disposing of unused doses at the end of the day.

People began arriving early in the morning, some at 6 a.m. or earlier. At around 7:30 a.m., their names were put on a list and they were instructed to return in the afternoon, after which they dispersed. The small crowd began to regroup around 3:15 p.m. to wait for everyone with an appointment to get a shot.

Afterward, Nevada National Guard Sgt. John Huss told them how many unused doses were left in opened containers and began calling names off the list. Usually, older people are prioritized but almost everyone on the list is ineligible to make an appointment.

On Tuesday, there were only eight doses remaining at the end of the day. Most of the 45-plus person crowd ended up empty-handed, but some said they planned to continue coming back every day until the process worked.

Existence of wait list confirmed

The Southern Nevada Health District has previously said there were no waiting lists that would allow ineligible Nevadans to get the vaccine at Cashman.

But spokeswoman Jennifer Sizemore acknowledged Wednesday that the practice does occur.

“If there are doses left over at the end of the day it is typically a small amount,” she said via email. “If there are people waiting that do not have appointments they are prioritized by age. If, after ensuring everyone who is eligible and those in highest age categories have received it, there is still vaccine that needs to be used, anyone who may be waiting would be offered it to ensure doses are not wasted.”

Greg Cassell, commander of the health district’s incident management team, said at a Wednesday news briefing that the health district has no “formal process” for waste doses and leaves such decisions to the site operators.

“We’re going to leave their operational mode up to them,” he said. “If that’s what they’re choosing to do, that’s fine.”

Huss said he designed the system in place at Cashman, and noted that the National Guard is in charge of operations in the waiting area and parking lot.

‘Felt like we won the lottery’

Katie Stein, 37, along with her husband, Jordan, 37, had hunted around for places to get the vaccine for a while. Through the Facebook group, she heard that Cashman was pretty busy, so she looked for other options. Several members had posted and said they’d had success at Walmart locations, so she added her name to a nearby pharmacy’s list and was told to wait for a call.

That same day, her phone rang and a Walmart pharmacy worker asked if she could be there in 20 minutes. Both she and her husband made it and were able to get vaccinated.

“We felt like we won the lottery or something,” she said.

Cynthia Hemmer went to Cashman with her husband, but they arrived at about 8 a.m. and were told the list was full. They went back that afternoon, but nothing had changed. The next day, they showed up at 7 a.m., got on the list and received their first dose that afternoon. It was an emotional moment for Hemmer, 40.

“I was crying from seeing my husband get his vaccine,” she said. “So, I was sniffling, and the guy at the table said, ‘Are you sick right now?’ And I said, ‘Oh no, I’m just crying.’”

Contact Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter.