At a vaccination event on the campus of Jackson State University, students, faculty and members of the community are getting the coronavirus vaccine. Health officials in Mississippi say it’s the most effective way to prevent severe outcomes and death from COVID-19. Jackson resident Shere Gray is getting her booster dose.
Gray says “I was thinking about it a couple of weeks ago when they first started offering the booster, but hearing about the variant kinda pushed me to go ahead and get the booster.”
Byram resident Shanice White is also getting her booster and is being monitored by staff following her shot. She says the booster will help protect her family when she visits over the holidays.
“It feels great. Family is everything to me and I know that I may not have much time with some of those family members that I’ll get to see, so it’s definitely a great feeling to be able to see those family members again,” says White.
And while Jackson resident Cedric Buckley sits in the waiting room following his booster dose, he is scheduling an appointment for his son to get the booster vaccine as well.
“Of course it’s just preventative,” says Buckley. “It may not stop it but it can hinder and slow things down. So I advise anyone to take it. If a doctor advised me, I’m gonna listen.”
Mississippi joins more than a dozen states with confirmed omicron cases, and experts say they are still waiting on data to know the severity of this new variant.
Coronavirus vaccination sites can be found on the Department of Health’s website, or through vaccines.gov
