CVS will begin carrying new COVID vaccine in Nevada, following new state guidance

By April Corbin Girnus

Nevada Current

The nation’s largest retail pharmacy chain now plans to offer the updated COVID vaccine in Nevada, the Current confirmed Friday.

CVS confirmed the Nevada Board of Pharmacy issued new guidance Friday and as a result the vaccines will be made available, though they offered no timeline on when people can expect to receive them.

“Following today’s regulatory action by the Nevada Board of Pharmacy, CVS Pharmacy will ensure COVID-19 vaccinations are available as soon as possible at our pharmacies throughout the state,” a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement Friday.

CVS previously announced it would not offer the updated COVID vaccine in Nevada and two other states because they only allow pharmacists to administer drugs that have been approved by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. That panel has not approved this season’s COVID vaccine and now includes vaccine skeptics appointed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

According to The Nevada Independent, which first reported the new guidance, the Board of Pharmacy’s position is that pharmacists are allowed to widely administer vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The Board of Pharmacy did not immediately respond to the Current Friday afternoon. The board’s website, which typically lists regulations and announcements, is currently offline because it was impacted by the recent ransomware attack on the state’s information technology.

A spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, who on Thursday called the state to take action as soon as possible to address vaccine access, said the legislative leader plans to review the new guidance “to determine whether this is a sufficient long-term fix or whether it’s just a temporary solution and further action may be needed.”

Gov. Joe Lombardo’s office has not responded to the Current’s questions about the COVID vaccine being unavailable in the state and whether he has confidence in future recommendations from the CDC and ACIP.

April Corbin Girnus is an award-winning journalist and deputy editor of Nevada Current. A stickler about municipal boundary lines, April enjoys teaching people about unincorporated Clark County. She grew up in Sunrise Manor and currently resides in Paradise with her husband, three children and one mutt.