COVID-19 vaccination data from Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows Mississippi is lagging behind all other states in the country, while Tate County has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the state.
Just 41.5 percent of Mississippians 18 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine, the lowest in the nation. Data from the Mississippi State Department of Health shows that just 30 percent of the state’s total population has received one dose, and 26 percent is fully vaccinated.
The number of total doses administered in the state has dropped every week since the beginning of April, according to MSDH.
Madison County leads Mississippi with 41 percent of its total population fully vaccinated and is the only county in the state above 40 percent. Tate County ranks among the lowest with 22 percent of its approximately 28,000 people receiving both doses of the vaccine.
Twenty-six percent of the local population has taken at least one dose. MSDH statistics for surrounding counties in north Mississippi include:
• DeSoto – 24 percent fully vaccinated; 28 percent at least one dose
• Lafayette – 39 percent fully vaccinated; 43 percent at least one dose
• Marshall – 24 percent fully vaccinated; 27 percent at least one dose
• Panola – 26 percent fully vaccinated; 30 percent at least one dose
• Tunica – 25 percent fully vaccinated; 28 percent at least one dose CDC statistics show over 150 million Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine, which makes up 46 percent of the population and over 58 percent of the population over 18 years old.
On the plus side, COVID-19 cases continue to drop statewide from their highest point, and hospital admissions are sharply down.
Nine counties in Mississippi are still considered “high transmission” areas including Adams, Alcorn, Panola, Marshall, George, Amite, Claiborne, Webster and Sharkey.
Tate County registered 48 additional cases of COVID-19 last week with one virus-related deaths Earlier this month, the coronavirus vaccine was made available for children ages 12 to 15 in Mississippi for the first time, a development the state’s top health official hopes will “shake us out of our complacency” in battling COVID-19.
“I want us all to really sit back and realize that you’re likely either to get the COVID vaccine, or the COVID virus,” State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said. “And under every circumstance, under every conceivable scenario, you are a thousand-fold, if not a million-fold better off getting the vaccine than contracting COVID.”
Meanwhile, MSDH said additional cases of two variant strains of COVID-19 have been reported across the state. Ten additional cases of the more infectious South African origin B.1.351 variant strain have now been identified, for a total of 12 cases.
The 10 additional cases are associated with outbreaks in Forrest and Covington Counties. The South African variant cases associated with these outbreaks were breakthrough cases in fully vaccinated older individuals in long-term care facilities. The majority of these cases had minimal to no symptoms; however, two required hospitalization, and one person died.
“Although one death is extremely unfortunate, the fact that most of these cases have had minimal to no symptoms in highly vulnerable individuals is extremely encouraging,” said MSDH State Epidemiologist Dr. Paul Byers. “The vaccines currently available provide excellent protection against severe disease. While theses illnesses are caused by variant strains, the outcomes of all these cases would likely be much more severe if they were not vaccinated.”
The MSDH expects to continue to identify variant strains and vaccine breakthrough cases. However, through increased vaccination and reduction in transmission – especially in long-term care settings – the risk of vaccine breakthrough cases is also decreased.
“It’s vitally important that all healthcare and long-term care facility staff get vaccinated against COVID-19,” said Dr. Byers. “We need to protect our most vulnerable populations.”
As of May 21, 554 COVID-19 variant cases had been reported in Mississippi, most of which are UK variant. Outside of long-term care settings, the MSDH has also identified three cases of B.1.617.2 Indian origin variant in Claiborne, Smith and Hinds counties.
An investigation is ongoing, but at least two are directly associated with travelers from India and Nepal. So far there have been 254 breakthrough cases reported in Mississippi out of more than 844,000 fully vaccinated Mississippians demonstrating the effectiveness of the vaccine.
