Nevada National Guard sergeant a celebrity to vaccine hunters
A sign that reads “Sgt. Huss autographs & photos” greets people in line to get a COVID-19 vaccine at Cashman Center. For those in the “Las Vegas Vaccine Hunters” Facebook group, the sign is a marker that they’re in the right place.
John Huss, 29, a sergeant in the Nevada National Guard, is in charge of managing the “waste list” at the vaccine site. The Facebook group helps people who aren’t eligible to make an appointment for the vaccine find a way to get it, and Cashman Center is almost always a major part of the discussion.
And through his work designing the waste list system at Cashman, Huss has become something of a cult hero to the group’s members.
There are dozens of posts about Huss, most of which describe him as “brilliant,” “amazing” or something similar. Some posters have openly considered driving to Cashman to meet Huss, despite already getting the vaccine at another site.
And, yes, Huss reads the posts in the group.
How does he feel about his sudden jump in popularity?
“To be completely truthful about that one, I feel like I’m just doing my job,” he said.
‘Collective effort’
Huss and other members of the National Guard started watching the Facebook group when it had around 300 members, hoping to use it as a way to get feedback on their efforts to make the vaccination process as efficient as possible. Now, the group has about 2,500 members.
Huss and his staff had to create a waiting list policy from scratch, and he acknowledged that there were some early hiccups. Using some of the information from the group, he changed the system to prioritize people by age.
People arrive in the morning, some at 6 a.m. or earlier. Around 7:30 a.m., Huss puts their names on a list and tells them to return in the afternoon. The small crowd regroups around 3:15 p.m. to wait for everyone with an appointment to get a shot. Huss then distributes any leftover doses to the people on the waiting list.
As the group continued to grow, people started to post about their experiences at Cashman, noting that Huss was particularly approachable and helpful. Within weeks, he’d become a celebrity, which inspired the sign offering autographs and photos.
“If people want to take photos, I’m all for it. I’ve got nothing wrong with that,” Huss said. “I did have one person ask me for an autograph. It’s pretty cool, just having fun with it, spending time with the public. That sign was somewhat made as a joke. But I don’t make false promises. If somebody asks me, I’m going to do it.”
Huss enlisted in 2011 and became a sergeant about two years ago. He started working at the Cashman site in July and is in charge of managing the exterior of the site, including the waiting list, the entrance and the parking lot. The area near the start of the line, which regularly drew over 200 people trying to get an extra vaccine dose, was named “Fort Standby” by Huss and his staff.
All Nevadans 16 or older will be eligible to receive the vaccine on April 5, which Huss hopes will eliminate the need for a waiting list. Even though that list has made him more famous than he ever could’ve imagined.
The vaccine rollout has been a massive undertaking, and Huss has played a big part in it. But he credits everyone around him for simplifying the process.
“As far as the planning aspect for everything, it was a learning experience,” he said. “It still is a learning experience. Nobody here has done anything like this before. And it’s a collective effort.”
Contact Jonah Dylan at jdylan@reviewjournal.com. Follow @TheJonahDylan on Twitter.