Gov. Tate Reeves said on Thursday that he hopes that Mississippi will eventually have the ability to administer 100,000 COVID-19 shots a week.

He hopes to reach this goal during the month of February.

People who are vaccinated with either the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or the Moderna vaccine have to receive two doses of the vaccine. At a press conference, Reeves expressed his hope to ultimately provide 50,000 first doses and 50,000 second doses to Mississippians each week. 

The goal of 100,000 doses is subject to supply, Reeves said. The state is limited by how many first doses it receives from the federal government.

Reeves said over the last several weeks, the state has been receiving about 37,000 first doses a week. He expects the state to receive about 43,000 first doses next week. The state will continue to receive second doses, too.

Reeves also announced that Mississippians can now sign up for an appointment for their second dose once they have received the first dose. Mississippi residents no longer need to wait a period of time after receiving the first dose to schedule an appointment for the second, according to the Mississippi State Department of Health.

MSDH reported on Thursday that 216,538 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to Mississippians.

Dr. Paul Byers, the state epidemiologist, said at the press conference that the state is seeing some decline in its COVID-19 numbers and improvements in the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized or in the intensive care unit.

“But we are by no means out the woods,” he said. “We are still much higher than even the surge that we had over the summer. We’re still seeing lots of cases being reported. We’re still seeing a lot of deaths being reported.”

MSDH reported on Thursday 1,804 new cases of the coronavirus and 28 new COVID-19 related deaths in the state, bringing the state’s totals to 270,476 cases and 5,945 deaths.

The state reported 42 new cases of COVID-19 in Lauderdale County, bringing the county’s total to 6,254 cases. The county reported one new death, which occurred between Dec. 6 and Jan. 27. 199 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported in Lauderdale County since March.

COVID-19 case and death numbers for local counties are listed below.

Clarke County: 23 new cases; 1,533 total cases. No additional deaths; 62 total deaths since March.

Newton County: 14 new cases; 2,041 total cases. No additional deaths; 48 total deaths since March.

Kemper County: three new cases; 821 total cases. No additional deaths; 20 total deaths since March.

Neshoba County: eight new cases; 3,536 total cases. No additional deaths; 160 total deaths since March.

MSDH presumed that 222,812 people had recovered from COVID-19 as of Jan. 24. The department also reported that there are 182 ongoing outbreaks of COVID-19 in long-term-care facilities.

COVID-19 data

County	Total Cases	Total Deaths	Total LTC Facility Cases	Total LTC Facility Deaths
Adams	2188	72	72	15
Alcorn	2785	57	129	20
Amite	1048	29	54	7
Attala	1986	65	173	36
Benton	876	23	45	10
Bolivar	4219	111	225	31
Calhoun	1461	22	28	4
Carroll	1080	22	48	9
Chickasaw	1919	47	53	15
Choctaw	652	14	1	0
Claiborne	907	26	45	9
Clarke	1533	62	122	30
Clay	1701	39	27	3
Coahoma	2552	56	129	11
Copiah	2562	50	79	9
Covington	2272	73	136	39
De Soto	18119	199	113	24
Forrest	6361	127	225	50
Franklin	715	17	40	4
George	2121	42	59	7
Greene	1161	30	52	6
Grenada	2266	74	154	32
Hancock	3072	63	69	14
Harrison	14829	215	481	65
Hinds	17286	346	797	126
Holmes	1746	68	103	20
Humphreys	868	25	34	8
Issaquena	161	6	0	0
Itawamba	2740	65	125	22
Jackson	11256	194	230	30
Jasper	1890	39	38	2
Jefferson	575	22	40	6
Jefferson Davis	917	31	8	1
Jones	7039	120	218	41
Kemper	821	20	45	9
Lafayette	5331	102	188	54
Lamar	5182	65	53	13
Lauderdale	6254	199	432	94
Lawrence	1101	17	27	2
Leake	2395	67	89	14
Lee	9202	149	215	41
Leflore	3172	110	234	52
Lincoln	3130	89	173	37
Lowndes	5654	126	256	61
Madison	8785	173	359	69
Marion	2330	74	158	24
Marshall	3650	74	64	15
Monroe	3762	112	189	55
Montgomery	1136	36	54	9
Neshoba	3536	160	201	58
Newton	2041	48	87	15
Noxubee	1151	26	35	6
Oktibbeha	4149	87	215	36
Panola	3930	84	102	13
Pearl River	3626	109	161	33
Perry	1072	31	21	7
Pike	2774	87	125	34
Pontotoc	3853	62	78	7
Prentiss	2581	55	99	15
Quitman	723	11	0	0
Rankin	11478	227	390	61
Scott	2690	55	103	9
Sharkey	462	17	43	8
Simpson	2472	73	157	20
Smith	1368	26	60	8
Stone	1563	27	84	14
Sunflower	2980	79	117	19
Tallahatchie	1593	35	50	7
Tate	2839	64	80	19
Tippah	2536	53	116	8
Tishomingo	1988	62	102	27
Tunica	904	22	18	2
Union	3638	66	131	21
Walthall	1175	38	68	13
Warren	3802	104	169	38
Washington	4995	125	189	39
Wayne	2213	37	69	11
Webster	993	24	58	11
Wilkinson	603	25	25	5
Winston	2093	71	117	37
Yalobusha	1266	35	82	22
Yazoo	2621	56	139	18
Total	270,476	5,945	10,179	1,896