Large Las Vegas venues eyed for vaccination sites

Large Las Vegas venues including T-Mobile Arena and Allegiant Stadium are being considered as potential COVID-19 vaccination sites as the state works to speed up distribution efforts.

Jim Murren, chair of the Nevada COVID-19 Response, Relief and Recovery Task Force, said Thursday that the arena and other venues have indicated “whatever we can do, we’ll do” to help, but it’s not yet clear if the discussions will lead to action.

Providing resources

T-Mobile Arena is just the latest to be considered a potential vaccination site.

The Raiders have been in discussions with officials about possibly using Allegiant Stadium to help the rollout of vaccines, the Review-Journal reported last month. Clark County spokesman Erik Pappa said the arena is “a potential resource we can utilize if we need to, but nothing is definite.”

Murren said its availability isn’t an issue, but setting up and managing the venue could pose a series of logistical challenges.

“It’s not as simple as saying, ‘OK, Allegiant Stadium just opened up. Everybody, first come, first served.’ That perspective can’t work,” said Murren, who led MGM as CEO before stepping down and joining the task force in March.

“A series of bottlenecks” have led to frustrations over vaccine deployment in the state, he said. Data from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shown Nevada consistently ranking near the bottom of national lists for both receiving vaccine doses and putting shots into arms, but it improved in the latest ranking.

The task force is not a government agency and does not have a say over the number of vaccines that get into the state, but Murren said it can marshal private resources to help set up vaccination sites and distribute appropriate personal protective equipment to workers at the locations.

“I think the takeaway is, the large employers in the state … have said, we’ll do whatever we can to help you provide facilities, provide resources, provide volunteers,” Murren said.

Task force member Alex Dixon added that there are no formal agreements with T-Mobile Arena or Allegiant Stadium and said he has not been privy to any discussions with the facilities.

“I think in broad terms as a task force we take our direction from the governor, and then help to operationalize what we’re asked to do,” said Dixon, the task force’s finance chair and western region president for PureStar laundry and linen services.

Spokespeople for MGM Resorts International, which operates the 650,000-square-foot T-Mobile Arena, declined to comment when asked aboutit being used as a vaccination center. The chair of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, which owns the 1.75-million-square-foot stadium, deferred comment to the Raiders. A spokesman for the Raiders did not return requests for comment Thursday evening.

It’s unclear how the vaccination sites would interact with the Golden Knights’ schedule. The Vegas Golden Knights are in season and playing games at T-Mobile. As for Allegiant Stadium, its website says there are no events scheduled until the recently rescheduled Garth Brooks concert on July 10.

Companies lending a hand

These wouldn’t be the first Las Vegas facilities to focus their attention on the battle against COVID-19.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. announced last month that it would be transforming the Encore’s convention space into a University Medical Center-run vaccination center.

“Wynn Resorts has provided the space at Encore and has organized getting the patients into available parking, through the resort and into the clinic,” spokesman Michael Weaver said. “We’ve had very favorable comments from patients about their experience.”

Elko-based Nevada Gold Mines, a member of the state’s COVID-19 task force, said that it has resources available to help deploy vaccinations in Northern Nevada counties, including Elko, Lander and Humboldt. The company said it can supply equipment and potential facility location for vaccine events “as needed” and has offered to provide volunteers for vaccine events.

Murren said “many other” resort companies have indicated that they have volunteers ready to help in any way they can, whether that is controlling crowds in line for vaccinations or picking up litter at the sites.

Meghin Delaney, spokeswoman for Gov. Steve Sisolak, did not comment on any specific private-public partnerships but said that the state will work with public and private partnerships and collaboration will be “critical” to ensure that doses are administered as quickly as possible to Nevadans.

“The State is deeply appreciative of the work of all our partners in this effort and we know that if we work together as a State, we will emerge stronger for all our residents,” she said.

Future R&R campaign

The task force’s efforts go beyond just lining up resources. Murren said the group has also raised funds to help advertising firm R&R Partners launch an advertising and public relations campaign on the importance of vaccinations.

The campaign would highlight the safety of vaccinations and share details on how to sign up for the shots, according to Murren.

Billy Vassiliadis, CEO of R&R Partners, said that he hopes they can begin the rollout in a month to six weeks, depending on how quickly vaccinations are distributed.

“What we don’t want to do is create a situation where people are seeing something on TV or on Instagram or wherever they’re getting their information from, and they’re saying, ‘Oh, we can go get (get the vaccine) now … and it’s not their turn yet,” he said.

Contact Bailey Schulz at bschulz@reviewjournal.com. Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.