Jackson Free Press

Four hundred seniors will get COVID-19 vaccines at the Jackson Medical Mall on a yet-to-be-announced day in April, City of Jackson Constituent Services Manager Keyshia Sanders told the Jackson Free Press Thursday.

"We will be providing transportation for them to be able to get picked up and transported to the vaccination site and then transported back to their home," Sanders said.

Jackson Medical Mall Foundation Chief Operations Officer Carmen Davis confirmed the initiative on Friday. She said the program is an expansion of its outreach program to the seniors and people with disabilities funded by the Mississippi Department of Transportation, the City of Jackson, and the Central Mississippi Planning and Development District.

"The Jackson Medical Mall (Foundation) not only will host it at our site, but we will also provide transportation for those who would need transportation to get here, to be vaccinated," Davis said. "And so we'll be utilizing our existing transportation program services to those who are registered to be vaccinated that day."

"The event will mainly focus on seniors and also the disadvantage or the disabled; however, we are setting aside vaccination shots for the general public as well."

Working with Senior Apartment Complexes

Sanders said the City is working with senior apartment complexes. "We're working with service coordinators for the residential apartment complexes, and they have expressed that there is a need for seniors that do not have transportation, that have a desire to be vaccinated, but they might not have the transportation to get to the vaccination site," she said.

Meanwhile, on March 6, 1,818 people participated in the City's vaccination day, Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba disclosed at a press briefing on March 8, where he described the event as a success and noted that the number constitutes more than 1% of the city's population.

Lumumba pointed out some organizations that partnered with the City for the event, including Hinds Community College, Mississippi Department of Health, and "several pharmacists around the Metro area” and “various volunteers."

"The more than 1,800 vaccinations (are) the most vaccinations the state has given out in any one day (in one location)," Lumumba said. "We know that the numbers have been abysmal in terms of less than 13% early on of Black and Brown communities being vaccinated as it relates to the overall vaccination across the state. So we wanted to step in and do our part to help the residents of Jackson, to help in the effort so that we can have some semblance of normalcy here in the near future."

The Mississippi State Department of Health, on its website, noted that as of March 25, Black people in the state now makes up 29% of those vaccinated, which, however, is still below their percentage of the total population—37.8%.

Those vaccinated on March 6 will take a second dose on March 27. In a Tuesday statement, the City asked for volunteers to assist in the event.

"It is not possible to pull off an event such as this without an army of dedicated volunteers," the City stated. "The City is calling for volunteers to help with day of event logistics from registration to guides to runners and more.”

Volunteers must be available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 27, to help run the event. To volunteer email [email protected]."

Email story tips to city/county reporter Kayode Crown at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @kayodecrown.