Teachers, first responders to be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccine shots in March
responders and K-12 teachers and staff will soon be eligible to receive COVID-19 vaccinations in Mississippi starting Monday, Gov. Tate Reeves announced Tuesday.
Tens of thousands of open appointments are expected to be added to the state’s scheduling system in the coming days to accommodate the expansion, he said. Although the new appointments are not yet available, the online appointment scheduling site had been updated to include the new groups Tuesday.
Larger vaccine shipments are also expected to come to Mississippi over the next few weeks. The Biden administration announced Tuesday that weekly vaccine shipments from the federal government will be increased to 14.5 million, the second time in two weeks the allotment has gone up.
President Joe Biden suggested during a CNN town hall on Feb. 16 that he wants shots to be available for all Americans by the end of July.
Cases decreasing across the state
According to data from the Mississippi State Department of Health, new confirmed coronavirus cases reported daily have dropped to levels not seen since mid-september.
The state’s vaccination efforts were drastically reduced last week due to the winter storm systems that paralyzed the state. Only a handful of the state’s drive-thru vaccination sites were open as officials contended with icy roads and frozen water systems. In all, only 32,540 shots were administered during the week of the storms, down more than 74,000 from the week prior.
As of Tuesday, health department data show that more than 500,000 people have begun or completed the vaccination process in Mississippi.
Restrictions across the state could ease soon
Reeves said that coronavirus restrictions that have been in place for several months could be eased in the near future.
An executive order requiring residents in 75 counties to wear masks while in public and adhere to social distancing guidelines is set to expire March 3. Reeves said he is currently reviewing what a new executive order may look like, but it will be different from ones issued previously.
“There’s going to be a lot of converfirst sations and a lot of discussion about these items,” he said. “We’re going to have an executive order that looks very, very different than when our ICU capacity was at or near full.”
Under the current order, residents in the affected counties must wear masks inside businesses, schools or other public indoor spaces when at least 6 feet of social distancing cannot be maintained. They also must keep groups to no more than 50 outdoors and no more than 10 indoors when social distancing isn’t possible.
Reeves said he wants to stress to residents that restrictions can continue to be eased as long as cases continue to decline.
“I want everyone to understand that there is a reward for getting vaccinated,” he said.
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