(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)Linda Busby receives a COVID-19 vaccine at the Aaron E. Henry Community Health Service Center,  April 7, 2021, in Clarksdale. Twenty-nine percent of Lauderdale County residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the Mississippi State Department of Health reported on Tuesday.

Twenty-nine percent of Lauderdale County residents are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the Mississippi State Department of Health reported on Tuesday.

The county’s rate is similar to the statewide rate — 27% — but it lags behind the national rate of 37%. To be fully vaccinated, an individual must have received two doses of the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The percentage of Lauderdale County residents who have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine is 33%, which is substantially lower than the national rate of 47.5%. In the state of Mississippi, about 31% of residents have received at least one dose of vaccine.

In a press briefing on May 13, State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs encouraged Mississippians to get vaccinated. He said that individuals will likely either get vaccinated or get COVID-19.

“The likelihood is that everyone will either get COVID, or get vaccinated,” he said. “And it’s so much safer, by many thousandsfold, to get vaccinated.”

The vaccination rates for several East Central Mississippi counties are below.

Newton County: 32% have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine; 29% are fully vaccinated.

Neshoba County: 20% have received at least one dose; 18% are fully vaccinated.

Kemper County: 27% have received at least one dose; 25% are fully vaccinated.

Clarke County: 33% have received at least one dose; 29% are fully vaccinated.