“We spent last week and all weekend surging capacity for the vaccine appointment website and call center. More appointments are being loaded constantly, and we are now giving out vaccines as quickly as we get them. Update on access, locations, and more in today’s briefing,” said Governor Tate Reeves.
Governor Reeves said over 109,354 vaccinations have been given to Mississippians. He said more locations and appointments will be made available.
Reeves said the capacity for this weeks doses is roughly 68,000. Reeves said additional vaccines will only be sent to providers who have issues at least 65% of their allocated vaccines.
The plan to vaccinate nursing homes was negotiated with the federal government. Governor Reeves said he spoke with Walgreens and CVS and they assured him that most if not all nursing homes will have access to the vaccine by the end of the month.
He said there are somewhere between 75 and 85 percent of all residents are opting to take the vaccine and around a third of all employees are choosing to take it.
“I want to thank again the men and women that are working long long hours to make this a reality,” said Reeves.
Governor Reeves also announced additional COVID-19 vaccine measures in an effort to keep Mississippians safe and help individuals receive the COVID-19 vaccine. 20,000 new appointments – loaded into the system today – are for first doses and can be booked at covidvaccine.umc.edu OR by calling 877-978-6453.
The website has also been expanded to be able to help 6,000 individuals per second get an appointment to receive the vaccine. The call center is also being expanded so callers should have less of a wait time.
“We celebrated a milestone over the weekend, with more than 100,000 Mississippians receiving vaccinations for COVID-19,” Governor Tate Reeves said. “That’s something we can all be proud of, as we work to get even more access to all.”
Sarah Ulmer
