Vaccinations increase in Mississippi for first time in months

Vaccinations against COVID-19 in Mississippi have begun to rise after dropping in the past few months.

Nearly 53,000 people received either a first or second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine last week, according to data from the Mississippi State Department of Health. The vaccination rate had fallen to a weekly rate of about 20,000 at the beginning of July.

According to the Mayo Clinic’s COVID-19 vaccine tracker, Mississippi has vaccinated 39.8 percent of its population with at least one dose, ranking among the lowest in the U.S. Only around 35 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.

As is the case for much of the country, new COVID-19 cases in Mississippi have skyrocketed as of late, which health experts have attributed to the highly infectious delta variant.

According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mississippi’s seven-day moving average of cases is currently around 960, having dropped from a high of about 1,500 last week.

State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs called on Mississippians to get vaccinated on Tuesday, The Associated Press notes.

“Vaccinations rates more than doubled in MS in recent weeks. We need ~1 million more immune Mississippians to reach population immunity,” Dobbs tweeted.

Vaccinations rates more than doubled in MS in recent weeks.

We need ~1 million more immune Mississippians to reach population immunity

Delta is deadly… expect high report today pic.twitter.com/uBmnFeBzwK

— thomas dobbs (@TCBPubHealth) August 3, 2021