MS Coast hospitals run out of COVID-19 vaccine as health dept. appointments fill up
Mississippi Coast residents are clamoring for COVID-19 vaccines and unable to schedule appointments a day after Gov. Tate Reeves said shots would be immediately available to anyone 65 or older or with pre-existing conditions.
On the Coast, Memorial Hospital and Singing River Health System, which Reeves praised for getting the vaccine out to the public, say they are out of doses. Ochsner Medical Center-Hancock, which joined the vaccine program this week, also is out of doses and unable to schedule appointments.
Angie Juzang, marketing and community relations vice president for Memorial, said the hospital was informed Wednesday that the Mississippi State Department of Health will be administering the next round of vaccines, and Memorial is unsure when it will get more doses.
The hospital vaccinated 2,500 residents over two days last week.
“Certainly, we had a learning curve, but we were distributing it quickly and we are ready for another round.
“The little bit that we had left over, we administered to paramedics.”
Reeves said during a news conference Tuesday that the MSDH is ramping up to administer 30,000 doses a week at MSDH drive-thru clinics. But the effort to get vaccinated through the state is so far proving futile for many South Mississippi residents.
MSDH’s drive-thru clinics are set up right now only in Harrison and Jackson counties and all appointments are filled. The state website to sign up online, covidvaccine.umc.edu, had wait times ranging from hundreds to thousands of people and was most recently showing only five appointments available in Oktibbeha County in east central Mississippi.
Both the MSDH telephone numbers to schedule appointments were busy.
Coastal Family Health Center was still scheduling appointments for residents 75 and older Wednesday afternoon, but said the situation changes “minute by minute.” Residents can call 877-374-4991 to schedule an appointment at one of Coastal Family’s clinic locations.
This story was originally published January 13, 2021 at 1:32 PM.
