Sisolak to feds: Nevada’s vaccine allocation falls short

Nevada has received the second-lowest number of COVID-19 vaccines per capita in the United States, and that’s not sitting well with Gov. Steve Sisolak.

Sisolak sent a letter Monday to acting Health and Human Services Secretary Norris Cochran looking for answers.

“I have directed every government resource to focus on getting shots into the arms of Nevadans – we have great state and local partnerships that could drastically scale up the number of vaccines that could be administered per day. We need the doses to match that,” Sisolak wrote.

A total of 286,950 doses have been delivered to Nevada through Sunday, which translates into a rate of 9,316 doses per 100,000 people. Only South Carolina has a worse ratio among the 50 states.

“We need our fair share of vaccine doses to stand up and sustain successful vacci

nation efforts to reach Nevadans in an equitable fashion. Through this letter I am asking the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to look into why Nevada is so low on the allocation list, and more important, to find ways to increase our allocation both immediately and for the long term,” Sisolak wrote.

Sisolak is asking for clarity on distribution because “my state team was told time and time again that all states and territories would receive equitable allocation, understanding that supply will outpace demand in the near term.”

Sisolak, a first-term Democrat, opened his letter by praising the President Joe Biden’s administration for “moving so quickly to address this tremendously challenging health emergency.”