Gov. Tate Reeves announced Monday that Mississippi has administered one million COVID-19 shots.
Reeves addressed the public Monday to discuss the state's one millionth shot and to thank everyone who is helping to get shots in arms. He especially thanked those with the Mississippi State Department of Health, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, the Mississippi National Guard and other partners.
The push continues to getting more people to line up at vaccine sites to get the shot.
“We are not yet out of this fight," Reeves said. "In fact, we know that the next million shots are going to be harder to get than the first million.”
Reeves and state health leaders were clear that now is not the time to let your guard down. The governor urged unvaccinated Mississippians to get the vaccine so the state can continue to see case numbers drop.
Dr. Thomas Dobbs also took the podium to thank all parties involved in statewide vaccination efforts, stating Mississippi should be a model for the nation.
The MSDH is reporting 95 new coronavirus cases and zero deaths, as of Monday; the lowest number of cases reported since May 2020. Dobbs called these "phenomenal numbers" but acknowledged we still need those numbers to be lower. He also cautioned that about 260 people are in ICU beds currently.
He credited the low number of cases to the "phenomenal vaccination effort", primarily in those 65 years old and up. He also praised Mississippians for continuing to wear masks in public places and avoiding large indoor gatherings.
He urged people to continue following "common-sense practices" as we move into year two of the pandemic.
Dobbs encouraged all health care providers to work quickly to get vaccines into patient arms and to get those vaccinations registered as soon as possible so the MSDH can report accurate information.
This millionth shot milestone comes a week after Reeves announced vaccine eligibility would be expanded to include all Mississippians aged 16 and up. Reeves lifted most COVID-19 restrictions earlier this month in response to a drop in the state's case numbers, deaths and outbreaks.
There are even more concerns after state health leaders announced Friday that the more infectious South African variant of COVID-19 has been identified in Mississippi.
"One of the ways that we prevent the variant strains from taking hold and becoming significant is to reduce overall transmission of COVID in the state and the ways that we can do that are to continue to utilize masks in public spaces, you know avoid those larger gatherings," said state epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers.
Dobbs says there’s still not enough research to suggest getting one vaccine over the other and encourages people to get whichever vaccine is available to you at the moment.
