Dentists can now administer COVID shots in Nevada

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) - Since its availability we’ve shown local efforts to get the COVID Vaccine in as many arms as possible. It’s an all hands of deck type of situation.

A recent governor’s declaration of emergency now allows for dentists to volunteer and help administer the shots.

“So, we can do it on site, or but obviously the whole idea is to get to those locations, they are already set up,” says Dr. Mark Funke, a Carson City dentist. “You know all the refrigeration, the storage, the guidance--the teams are there to make it more efficient and be able to care for more people,” he says.

Dentists give shots as a natural course of their practice. Many may have just assumed dentists were already included in the emergency vaccination effort.

While the declaration now does that, it is not going to stop once the pandemic is over. That is if Assemblyman from Carson City, P.K. O’Neill has his way.

“It made perfect sense. Because I thought about it. I had just received a vaccine from a pharmacist,” says Assemblyman O’Neill. “And if a pharmacist or a pharmacist tech can administer; a dentist who regularly does injections through their treatment, it made perfect sense to expand that ability,” he says

O’Neill says for the most part, his proposed legislation has received a positive response. Right now, 9 states allow for dentists to give COVID Vaccines, with only a handful allowing for the administration of all other vaccines.

Dentists say they often see patients more frequently than a general practitioner. They say If a client wants to get updated on a vaccination schedule, dentists should be able to help. The new bill as it is written will allow for dental hygienists to also deliver those vaccines. But that will be under the supervision of a dentist.

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