A strip club is being used as a COVID-19 vaccination center in Las Vegas, Nevada, as public health officials seek new ways to spur vaccine demand, according to The Associated Press.
Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club reached out to Las Vegas health officials about hosting a pop-up vaccination center after seeing that one of the club’s other locations in New Orleans became a vaccination center, the AP reported. Around 100 individuals, including at least one dancer, got their COVID-19 vaccinations Friday at Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club before the club fully opened for business, according to the AP.
JoAnn Rupiper, who serves as the chief nurse of the Southern Nevada Health District, monitored the Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club vaccination site. “This is just another way to access our population,” Rupiper told the AP, “It might attract some people who like the novelty of it, I suppose.”
“Free vaccinations were offered Friday at Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club, a strip joint.” @lauriemcginley2’s report from a desperate-to-reopen Las Vegas after Sin City’s lost year. https://t.co/Qozx04FDMh
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) May 24, 2021
JoJo Hamner, a dancer at the strip club, got vaccinated in a lingerie French maid costume, the AP reported. After getting her shot, she sat among other recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine in the club’s booths and chairs during the 15-minute observation period and told the AP, “This is just the most Vegas thing I’ve ever seen.”
Recently, Nevada’s demand for the COVID-19 vaccine has declined as the state approaches 50% of its 12-and-over population getting at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the AP. Thus, public health officials in Las Vegas have turned to more pop-up vaccination sites at churches, schools, senior centers, and now strip clubs. (RELATED: Guy In Las Vegas Casino Smokes A Cigarette While Wearing A Mask In Wild Video)
Larry Flynt’s is also using the COVID-19 vaccine to drive business. Patrons who show proof of vaccination get a membership card that gets them free entrance for them and five friends, a complimentary bottle of alcohol and dances from “a vaccinated entertainer,” the AP reported.
Michael Myers, 70, said his wife was able to change his mind about getting the vaccine when she told him they could get it at Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club. “I said, ‘Flynt’s Hustler?’ She said ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘Oh! Let me consider,’” Myers told the AP jokingly.
Lisa Harper, Myers’ wife, told the AP that “A lot of people that wouldn’t ordinarily do it, a lot of guys, they said, they came here because it’s Hustler.”
“To take away the stodginess of it, to make it Hustler, it’s very clever,” she added of the health officials use of the strip club, according to the AP.
George Stoecklin, a friend of the couple, came with them to get the COVID-19 vaccine shot. “Nothing says vaccinations like a stripper pole,” Stoecklin said, the AP reported.
Ralph James, the general manager of Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club in Las Vegas, said he hopes the club’s efforts can help get life back to normal, according to the AP, but is aware that strip clubs are not thought of as clean establishments by the general public. “This gives everyone a chance to see how clean it is and it’s a normal business just like any other business,” James said, according to the AP.