Vaccine available to more Mississippians next week

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves Monday announced the decision to allow vulnerable Mississippians to have access sooner than expected to the COVID-19 vaccine. 

Next week, individuals 75 and older will have availability to the vaccine.  The following week, Mississippians 65 and older will have the next available access. 

Executive order 1535 is still in effect until 5 p.m. Jan. 15.

The following counties are currently under a county wide mask mandates after meeting the certain requirements in relation to COVID-19: 

Alcorn, Amite, Attala, Benton, Bolivar, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Clarke, Clay, Coahoma, Copiah, Covington, DeSoto, Forrest, Franklin, George, Greene, Grenada, Hancock, Harrison, Hinds, Holmes, Humphreys, Itawamba, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Jones, Kemper, Lafayette, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Leake, Lee, Leflore, Lincoln, Lowndes, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Monroe, Montgomery, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Panola, Pearl River, Perry, Pike, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Quitman, Rankin, Scott, Simpson, Smith, Stone, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tippah, Tishomingo, Union, Walthall, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Webster, Wilkinson, Winston, Yalobusha and Yazoo Counties.

As of now, 78 of Mississippi’s 82 counties are under mask mandates.  

“The most important task that we have is getting the vaccine out to the public,” Reeves said. “That is our only way out of all this. I still believe everyone should continue to take social distancing seriously.” 

A copy of the executive order 1535 can be found here.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves official release