Need a last-minute cure for that Vegas hangover before flying home? Maybe a vaccination or antibiotics before a business trip?
If you’re at McCarran International Airport, just head to the pharmacy.
Las Vegas will soon have what officials are saying could be unique for a U.S. airport — a medical clinic, over-the-counter retailer and pharmacy, all in one location.
The privately owned McCarran Medical Clinic and Pharmacy, located near the A/B checkpoint in Terminal 1, already is seeing patients at the clinic.
The retail portion is expected to open by week’s end, and the pharmacy could be up and running by mid-June, airport spokeswoman Christine Crews said.
The 1,500-square-foot business has a large, captive audience of potential customers, with some 15,000 people who work at the airport and almost 42 million travelers passing through last year alone, making McCarran one of the busiest airports in the country.
The clinic will offer check-ups, vaccinations, immunizations, prescription and over-the-counter medications and “flight clearance” — a shot of meds that helps booze-soaked travelers sober up and be allowed to board their flight.
“We look to provide a convenient way for people to access their medications and receive great care in times of need when it may otherwise be difficult or stressful to do so,” co-owner Stan Wasserkrug said in a news release.
More common in Europe and Asia, medical clinics and pharmacies at airports are not nearly as common in the United States.
When a pharmacy opened at San Francisco International Airport in 2009, SFO officials said it was one of the nation’s first airport pharmacies and the only one with a full-time pharmacist on site.
McCarran previously had a medical clinic, but according to Melanie Shafer, spokeswoman for the current clinic, it closed in 2011.