The establishment of COVID-19 vaccination sites in Sunflower County would be a welcomed shot in the arm for residents who are expressing difficulty in getting transportation to sites in other counties.
During Tuesday’s Sunflower County Board of Supervisors meeting, District 3 Supervisor Ben Gaston requested that the County board members send a letter to the Mississippi State Department of Health asking them to establish vaccination sites in Indianola and Ruleville.
The county lawmakers voted unanimously to have Board Attorney Johnny McWilliams draft and submit the document.
Gaston said that based on a conversation with Second Congressional District Congressman Bennie Thompson, some funding is available to provide vaccination services at the suggested locations.
Gaston added that at the minimum, if MSDH is unwilling to do that, they could have the Sunflower County Health Department personnel assist the citizens with online enrollment to get the shots or assist with setting up transportation to other counties where the shots are being administered.
"We've got a lot of folks in the community that don't have computers, they have a hard time with computers because they are not used to them, and they don't have transportation to go to either Washington County or Leflore County to get the shots," Gaston said.
He said the health department employees could help get them connected with transportation services in the area that could get them to those facilities. In addition to sending a letter to MSDH, he suggested that a copy of the letter should also be forwarded to Governor Tate Reeves.
District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald mentioned that he has been in conversation with South Sunflower County Hospital Administrator Courtney Phillips and a physician who told him that the Indianola Family Medical Clinic has already submitted an application for the clinic to be used as a site, and that they were confident that it was going to be approved.
Gaston acknowledged a similar conversation with Philips and noted, "That has yet to happen." Gaston expressed that as one of his reasons for requesting the letter, stating that MSDH was snowed under and a letter might help push things along.
"They've added extra sites in Washington County, they've added extra sites in Leflore County, but you've got the clinic here in town is requesting that and they've totally ignored it," said Gaston.
He added, "Unless we do something as a Board of Supervisors to get their attention, they'll probably continue to be ignored."
Donald then made a motion that was seconded by Gaston and the vote was unanimous.
In their conversation with Sunflower County Emergency Management Director Denny Evans, Evans mentioned that he has been in conversation with MSDH about identifying possible locations as inoculation sites when the COVID-19 vaccine is made available to the general public. "They are looking for possible drive-thrus and possible walk-in sites. They have certain criteria for each one that they are looking for," Evans said.
Some of his recommendations were the county agricultural center/livestock barn in Sunflower, the Drew National Guard Armory, local clinics and the MDCC coliseum as a walk-in and drive-thru site, which according to Evans, the State Health Department already has an agreement with the school. "What they'll actually end up using, I have no idea," he said.
The current criteria for receiving the vaccine are that you must be a healthcare worker or EMT/paramedic, 65 years of age or older or 18-64 years of age with underlying medical conditions.
Although no first-dose appointments are available, individuals needing the second dose of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines can register on the Mississippi State Department of Health’s COVID Vaccine website at https://covidvaccine.umc.edu/ or they can call 877-978-6453, if they have any questions.
Persons visiting the website will have to click on the blue “get started” button at the bottom of the screen and then answer and click through a few questions.
