The Jackson Public School District is encouraging students, faculty, parents and community members to get vaccinated this week at various middle schools. Photo courtesy JPS

The Jackson Public School District is hosting COVID-19 vaccination events at its middle schools today and tomorrow, where students over age 12 are eligible to receive their first dose of Pfizer’s vaccine.

In addition to students, all parents, faculty and members of each school’s local community are eligible for vaccinations. Parents and community members may sign up for appointments here.

“First doses only of the Pfizer vaccine will be available to parents, faculty and staff, and the local community,” a statement from JPS says.

Powell, Chastain and Peeples Middle Schools will host vaccination events today from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., while Blackburn, Cardozo, Northwest and Bailey APAC Middle Schools will host events tomorrow, Sept. 9, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Hinds County saw two reported school outbreaks last week, data from the Mississippi State Department of Health show. One outbreak at Raines Elementary included somewhere between one and five faculty infections, while 131 students were quarantined. A separate outbreak at John Hopkins Elementary resulted in somewhere between one and five student infections along with the same estimate for faculty, while the school mandated an additional 131 student quarantines.

MSMA Launches “TheMSWay” COVID-19 Campaign

The Mississippi State Medical Association launched its information campaign dubbed #theMSway today, aimed at answering questions about COVID-19 and providing factual information.

“MSMA is proud to share the launch of #theMSway campaign that brings factual, informative, and encouraging information to the vaccine hesitant population of Mississippi,” a MSMA statement on Facebook said. “Let’s vax up and get back to the MS way.”

The MSway campaign website allows anyone to ask a question regarding COVID-19, to which MSMA will email an answer. In addition, a website map helps find suitable vaccination sites across the state.

An MSDH report shows 102 deaths due to COVID-19 today, although 25 of the deaths occurred between Sept. 2 and Sept. 7. In addition, MSDH reported 1,932 new infections and 132 continuing outbreaks among long-term care facilities.

Email Reporting Fellow Julian Mills at [email protected].