Mississippi residents can expect to see COVID-19 vaccines offered at some Walmart pharmacies in the state soon.

Gov. Tate Reeves said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon that the Biden administration will provide vaccines to pharmacies in Mississippi and in other states. The federal government has partnered with Walmart and with some independent pharmacies in the U.S., according Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the state health officer. 

Beginning next week, one million vaccine doses will be distributed to some 6,500 pharmacies around the U.S., the Associated Press reported.

Walmart will kick off this pharmacy program in Mississippi. Dobbs expects that some Walmart locations will start offering vaccines on Feb. 12. 

Reeves said about 10% of the vaccines that the state receives next week will be part of this pharmacy program. Approximately 30 different stores throughout the state will eventually offer COVID-19 vaccines through this federal program.

According to Dobbs, the federal government said it considered racial and geographic disparities when choosing the store locations that would offer the vaccine.

The state is also administering vaccines at its drive-thru vaccination sites. Community health clinics, hospitals and other entities are vaccinating Mississippians, too. However, demand for COVID-19 vaccines far exceeds supply, according to Reeves.

“A lot more Mississippians want to get the vaccine than we have shots available on a weekly basis,” he said at the press conference.

He announced on Twitter Tuesday morning that 30,000 new appointments for a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine had become available, but the appointments filled up by noon on Tuesday, according to Dobbs.

Dobbs said that about 40% of Mississippians over 75 years old have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

On Wednesday, Reeves extended the mask mandates for many Mississippi counties until March 3 at 5 p.m. The existing mandates had been set to expire on Wednesday at 5 p.m. Lauderdale, Newton, Clarke, Kemper and Neshoba counties are among the counties that will continue to have mask mandates. 

COVID-19 case and death numbers

MSDH reported on Wednesday 791 new cases of the coronavirus and 26 additional COVID-19 related deaths in the state, bringing the state’s totals to 277,322 cases and 6,158 deaths.

The state reported 22 new COVID-19 cases in Lauderdale County, bringing the county’s total to 6,425 cases. Lauderdale County reported six additional deaths, which occurred between Jan. 20 and Feb. 2. The county has reported 212 COVID-19 related deaths since March.

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

Clarke County: six new cases; 1,583 total cases since March. No additional deaths; 65 total deaths since March.

Newton County: six new cases; 2,082 total cases. One additional death, which occurred between Jan. 20 and Feb. 2; 49 total deaths since March.

Kemper County: two new cases; 844 total cases. No additional deaths; 21 total deaths since March.

Neshoba County: seven new cases; 3,587 total cases. One additional death, which was identified from death certificate reports and occurred between Dec. 18 and Jan. 28; 162 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 148 ongoing outbreaks of COVID-19 in long-term-care facilities.