COVID vaccine now open to more Mississippi residents. Here’s who qualifies in new phase.
Update: Gov. Tate Reeves said Monday, Jan. 18, that 20,000 more appointments are available and more will open up over the next few days after the state received more doses and made improvements to the call center and website.
The COVID-19 vaccine is available immediately for Mississippi residents who are 65 or older or have pre-existing conditions, Gov. Tate Reeves announced at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
“We’re moving fast because we don’t want to see doses expire for lack of use,” the governor said.
Reeves said the state has doubled vaccine administration from the first weeks and expects to nearly double shots again this week as Mississippi State Department of Health capacity improves and health care partners sign on to offer the shots.
He said teachers, firefighters and police officers will be able to sign up soon for the vaccine.
“You’re on deck,” Reeves said. ”The next time we have an update, I expect the vaccine to become available to you. Please stay tuned.”
The state is working to ramp up vaccinations after residents 75 and older last week swamped the phone line set up to schedule appointments at MSDH’s 18 drive-thru clinics.
Available appointments quickly filled through the end of January at some of those clinics, including South Mississippi locations. On Tuesday, appointments were available across the state, including the drive-thru clinics in Harrison, Jackson and Forrest counties. But by Wednesday afternoon, nearly all the slots were filled.
Eligible residents can schedule appointments for vaccinations at one of the state’s drive-thru clinics by calling 877-978-6453 or through the quickest route, signing up online at covidvaccine.umc.edu.
The MSDH’s toll-free number went down shortly after Reeves’ announcement. Anyone unable to get through can instead call 601-965-4071. Also, the website was overwhelmed before the news conference ended, with Reeves asking residents to be patient as they try to book online appointments.
MS vaccine rate increasing
Reeves acknowledged Mississippi’s vaccine rollout was initially slow.
“We obviously have more work to do,” he said, “but we are improving quickly.”
He offered the following statistics:
▪ 62,744 residents have been vaccinated over four weeks, with more than 20,000 of those doses administered last week.
▪ 30,000 doses can now be administered a week, starting with week five this week.
▪ 2% of the state’s population of about 3 million has been vaccinated.
Statistics maintained online by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show Mississippi on Monday had the fifth-lowest rate of vaccines distributed and the fourth-lowest rate of vaccines administered — an improvement over the state’s even lower position a week earlier.
By around noon Monday, 6,476 doses per 100,000 residents had been distributed to the state, with 1,792 doses administered, the CDC website shows. Overall, less than 27.7% of doses distributed to the state had been administered, the data shows.
Hospitals and clinics have joined the state in vaccinating residents, with pharmacies under federal contract to handle vaccines in long-term care facilities, where death rates are highest.
Federal policy shifts to vaccinate more groups
The Trump administration on Tuesday announced a new policy of pushing out vaccines to a broader population as COVID-19 continues to devastate the country, a policy president-elect Joe Biden has embraced as he prepares to take office.
A database of state health department and official case data maintained by the New York Times shows case counts are high and growing higher in all states except Hawaii, where they are low but growing.
The MSDH reported a record 98 deaths Tuesday, bringing total deaths to 5,284 with 241,957 total cases of COVID-19.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 3:24 PM.
