by Kelsey Penrose

As the challenges from COVID-19 and the government’s responses are always evolving, so too are the channels of vaccination for the Carson City, Quad-County area.

During the first roll out, there was a tiered system for groups of individuals who would have access to the vaccine. However, now the tiered system has been retired in favor of “Priority Lanes,” which separates the population into two groups, Workforce and General Population.

Within those population groups, there is a priority order for who has access to the vaccine based on things such as job risk and potential for spread within the Workforce Group, and things such as underlying conditions and age in the General Population Group.

The two groups, General Population and Workforce, will run concurrently. Which means, for example, individuals who are 65 or older as well as those in the Workforce Priority Lanes 1-3 are all currently eligible to make appointments for the vaccine. The next in line for General Population is individuals with underlying conditions, and the next in line for Workforce is Priority Lane 4.

General Population

In the general population, the priority is more simplified versus the workforce categories. The priority lanes for the General Population are as follows:

  1. Nevadans 70 years and older
  2. Nevadans 65-69
  3. Nevadans 16-64 with underlying conditions
  4. Individuals with disabilities
  5. Nevadans Experiencing Homelessness
  6. Healthy Adults 16-64 years

Workforce Group

The workforce group is broken into multiple categories based on criteria such as level of exposure to COVID-19, length of exposure, importance of job, likelihood of increased community spread, mortality rate, and more.

The first priority group for the Workforce Group is Frontline and Essential Workforce lane which includes:

  • Hospital staff, lab workers, home health providers, pharmacists, and more, along with long term care facilities and their residents.

The second priority lane is Public Safety and Security, which includes professions such as:

  • Law enforcement, national security, correctional staff, and emergency operations staff.

The third priority lane is Frontline Community Support, which includes professions such as:

  • Education and childcare workers, frontline workers who support food, shelter, and legal services, as well as veterinary service staff.
  • Continuity of Governance, which includes professions on a state and local level of essential frontline workers who work for the government.
  • Essential Public Transportation, which includes professions such as public transportation employees at the state and local levels, taxi and ride share services, and other ground transportation services.
  • Remaining Essential Public Health Workforce, which includes public health and environmental health workers specializing in sanitary and infection control, health care facility safety and emergency planning, community health workers including call center workers.
  • Mortuary Services, which includes workers who prepare the deceased for burial, conduct funerals, or operate sites for cremation, among other services.

The fourth priority lane is Front-line Supply Chain and Logistics which includes:

  • Agriculture and Food Processing, which includes professions such as farmers and ranchers, as well as workers at food ingredient production and processing facilities, aquaculture and seafood harvesting facilities, slaughter and processing facilities for livestock, poultry and seafood, animal manufacturing and processing facilities, human food facilities producing by-products for animal food, among others.
  • End-To-End Essential Goods Supply Chain which includes manufacturing, transport, distribution and sale of essential items such as warehouse workers, distribution workers (USPS, FedEx, UPS, etc), truck drivers, grocery store workers, janitorial staff, and more (see link below).
  • Utilities and Communications Infrastructure which include water and wastewater workers, dam workers, natural gas, energy/electric sectors, internet and mobile services, news broadcasters, newspaper publishers, workers responsible for ensuring persons with disabilities have access to communications platforms.
  • Nevada Department of Transportation and Local Emergency Road Personnel which includes CDL operators, street cleanup crews, snowplow drivers, emergency road crews, and more (see link below.)
  • Essential Airport Operations which includes any worker that supports air transportation for cargo and passengers including operation, distribution, maintenance and sanitation.
  • Other Essential Transportation such as mechanics, workers critical to manufacturing, distributing, renting, repair of or sales of vehicles, and more (see link below.)

The fifth priority lane is Frontline Commerce and Service Industries which includes:

  • Food Service and Hospitality such as restaurant and quick serve food operations, food prep centers, delivery food workers, cafeteria workers, casino workers, and more (see link below.)
  • Hygiene Products and Services which includes workers who produce hygienic products, workers in laundromats or laundry services, workers providing household goods, repair and maintenance, janitorial and cleaning personnel, and more (see link below.)
  • Depository Credit Institution Workforce which includes workers who are needed to provide and maintain systems for processing, verifying and recording financial transactions and services such as banks, money lending, lockbox banking, ATMs, armored car services, and more (see link below.)

The sixth priority lane is Frontline Infrastructure which includes:

  • Infrastructure, Shelter and Housing such as construction workers, workers supporting the sale, transportation or installation of manufactured homes, plumbers, electricians, exterminators, HVAC technicians, and more (see link below.)
  • Essential Mining Operations which include frontline mine and processing operations and supplier/vendor industries essential to such operations.

The seventh priority lane is Other, which includes:

  • Community Support Administrative Staff such as food bank, state service office and community coalition administrative and others support staff who can and have been working from home.
  • NSHE Students living in Campus-sponsored residential settings such as dorms.
  • NSHE Remaining Workforce.

People with underlying health conditions are individuals diagnosed with:

  • Cancer
  • Chronic Kidney Disease
  • COPD, Cystic Fibrosis, Pulmonary Fibrosis, and other chronic lung diseases
  • Down Syndrome
  • Heart Conditions such as heart failure, coronary heart disease or cardiomyopathies
  • Immunocompromised from solid organ transplant
  • Obesity
  • Pregnancy
  • Sickle Cell Disease
  • Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
  • Smoking

To learn more about the new prioritization, as well as specific professions listed and frequently asked questions, please visit https://nvhealthresponse.nv.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/NEVADA-COVID-19-VACCINE-PLAYBOOK-V3-BRIEF_011121.pdf