Las Vegas health officials urge people not to skip second COVID shot

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Christopher DeVargas

Jayde Fox, RN with SNHD, administers a second dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to Jessica Dietz, Monday Feb. 1, 2021.

Fri, Mar 5, 2021 (2 a.m.)

Don’t skip that second shot.

As Clark County awaits its first shipment of the single-dose COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by the Johnson & Johnson-owned Janssen, more than 300,000 people are halfway through their regimens of previously approved two-shot vaccines — and health officials remind them to stay the course.

“The first dose of the vaccine starts building protection from the virus that causes COVID-19. The second dose is needed to get the most protection the vaccine has to offer,” said Dr. Cort Lohff, acting chief medical officer for the Southern Nevada Health District.

In clinical trials, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 95% effective in preventing COVID-19 illness, while the Moderna vaccine was 94.1% effective at preventing disease after the second shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While there has been some research indicating the first dose can provide protection, “there is yet not enough information to say how long that protection will last without the second dose,” Lohff said.

UNLV epidemiologist Brian Labus said partially vaccinated people are more likely to catch COVID-19 than those who have been fully vaccinated, and it’s not clear how partial vaccination could impact transmission of the disease.

“We design shots like that because sometimes it takes multiple exposures for the immune system to recognize it to give you that full protection,” said Labus, who is also a member of Gov. Steve Sisolak’s medical advisory team.

Lohff said people might be hesitant to return for their second shot because they are afraid of suffering more pronounced side effects. But those potential reactions are normal signs the body is building an immune response to the virus, he said.

Labus said the strongest protection comes after the second shot, so it follows that the side effects might be greater with the follow-up dose.

According to the CDC, the most common side effects of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are pain, swelling and redness in the arm where the shot was administered, as well as chills, tiredness and headache.

In Southern Nevada, about a third of appointment no-shows have been for second doses for a range of reasons, Health District official Greg Cassell said. Some were the result of duplicate bookings.

Overall, the Health District has cleared out almost 11,000 duplicate bookings with help from Federal Emergency Management Agency staffers calling people to confirm appointments and help cancel redundant reservations.

An updated appointment management system has made it easier to schedule follow-up dates for second doses.

“Everybody a month ago that got a first dose, before they left the site, we were able to schedule their second appointments,” said Cassell, a commander for the county's incident management team.

“So we've shored that up on our end and we anticipate that solving some of those problems for us, on both the scheduling and the people showing up,” Cassell said.

People who have received their first doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines need to get their second jab with the same vaccine within the recommended timeframe — three weeks for Pfizer and four weeks for Moderna.

Recipients who still need to make a second-dose appointment can click here.

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine will simplify things because it requires only one shot and and can be stored in a refrigerator instead of frozen like the other two vaccines.

Nevada was expecting to get about 24,000 doses of the single-shot vaccine this week.

Statewide, nearly 700,000 people have received at least one dose of vaccine, and about 240,000 people have been fully vaccinated, according to Nevada Health Response.

There have been about 295,000 cases of coronavirus in Nevada, with just over 5,000 related deaths, a vast majority of them in Clark County. Gov. Steve Sisolak asked Nevadans to participate in a moment of silence or light a candle at 6 p.m. Thursday in honor of those lost to the disease.

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