Nevada Gives Full Go-Ahead for Casino Workers Vaccination

Following months of slow vaccination, Nevada’s Clark County ramps up its efforts to immunize its hospitality and casino workers.

Health Authorities Push for Casino and Hospitality Workers Vaccination

The United States has hit a new milestone in the number of vaccinations, with over 100 million people getting the COVID-19 jab, official data revealed on Saturday. This means that the country may reach its target of vaccinating its entire population by the summer. In this context, on Thursday, officials told hospitality and casino sector business representatives in Nevada that their employees in Clark County are now eligible to get the jab.

The vaccination momentum started to build up slowly in December, and numbers have been gradually ramped up to now include food service, casino, and hospitality workers. Places like Nevada, where a lot of the essential and frontline workforce is concentrated, have been relieved after spending months waiting for the jabs to be given a full go-ahead by health authorities.

While some skepticism about vaccination prevails among certain groups, frontline workers have welcomed the news that they can get COVID-19 vaccinations, many citing fears that being on the frontline made them feel unsafe and scared for their lives.

Fears were particularly strong on the Las Vegas Strip, with the premier tourism destination facing hard lockdown measures and controlled lifting of measures over the months. 

Croupiers at popular properties spoke to media outlets explaining the difficult positions they were put in, meeting with strangers from all over the world and then having to go back to their families, carrying unknown pathogens.

Employees Can Finally Feel Safe 

Some have said that the jabs should have been introduced much sooner but were happy that they were finally coming in anyway. The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 has welcomed the news arguing that members will finally have the means to protect their families and themselves. 

Hospitality business representatives spoke about seeing “the light at the end of the tunnel” with the United States pushing hard for mass vaccination, and President Joe Biden saying that July 4 would be a Covid Independence Day. 

The Nevada Health Response said that people older than 55 with underlying conditions could also start getting the vaccination. 

Authorities urged eligible groups to sign up for vaccination, revealing that Cashman Center and Las Vegas Convention Center, two of the biggest vaccination centers in the Las Vegas area, were still not filling up all their allocated slots because of not enough people turning up. Casinos have also been converted into vaccination centers. 

As of Sunday, 959,000 doses of vaccines have been given in Nevada, with around 11.04% of the population fully vaccinated.