On Monday, data from the Mississippi State Department of Health showed the COVID-19 death toll has eclipsed 8,000 in the state as the Delta variant continues to pile up record and near-record daily case numbers, largely among the unvaccinated.
On the same day, the Pfizer vaccine was officially approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Meanwhile, daily COVID testing resumed at the Lowndes County Health Department.
In a state that lags near the bottom in vaccination, the combination of those events may move the needle.
“There’s no doubt,” said B.J. Cougle of BJ’s Family Pharmacy in Starkville. “Every day, we’re getting a dozen calls, maybe more, and we don’t even do vaccinations.”
“We’ve been busy with vaccinations pretty much since the Delta variant started showing up,” said Chris Bonner of Chris’ Pharmacy in Columbus. “We do vaccinations every day and we’re booked through Labor Day.”
A survey of area chain drug stores — including Walgreens, which provides the Pfizer vaccine — showed no long waits for vaccine appointments. All had appointments available within 24 to 48 hours.
Cougle said his pharmacy was originally set to provide the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in January, but when the vaccine was pulled briefly for health concerns, he decided not to resume vaccinations.
“It was a bad decision on our part,” Cougle said. “I really wish we were vaccinating because we’re big vaccination people. We get a lot of calls, a ton of them now, and we urge people to get vaccinated. I was talking to a Kroger pharmacist and he told me he gave 60 shots on Saturday. It’s booming, which is a very good thing.”
Amy Bogue, whose Allegro clinics operate three pharmacies that offer vaccinations, is more guarded in her optimism.
“I’d like to say yes,” Bogue said. “But there’s still so much misinformation out there. For people in the medical community, it’s mind-blowing that people will trust what we say about the diabetes medications or blood pressure medicine or almost anything else, but won’t trust what we say about the vaccines. It doesn’t register. At this point, I’m not sure if there is anything that will convince them.”
Bogue is far more optimistic when it comes to testing, however.
”We are seeing a lot more demand for testing,” Bogue said. “What we’re seeing now is more family groups coming in for tests, probably because of school and people getting out more and the Delta variant spreading more quickly. Before, we saw mostly individuals coming in for tests.”
Last week, the state health department expanded testing at some county health departments to five days a week, including Lowndes County, which had been testing three days a week. Noxubee County continues to test Monday through Friday while Clay County tests on Mondays and Tuesdays. There is currently no testing at the Oktibbeha County Health Department.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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