Kate KimberlinThe Mississippi State Department of Health reported 157 new COVID-19 cases in the state and no deaths as of April 17 via their Twitter. Lafayette county has reported no new cases since last Friday, with a total of 6077 since the COVID-19 pandemic started.
State officials are continuing to urge citizens to get vaccinated, despite drawbacks like the national call back of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, and trends of COVID-19 cases continuing to rise in Mississippi.
“Trending up last week. The future is in our hands,” State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs said in a tweet. “Fight COVID – get vaccinated.”
The university also followed suit with the rest of the nation, and will no longer be issuing the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, according to an email sent out April 14. All appointments for the specific vaccine have been canceled, and the email encouraged those with any specific concerns to reach out to health officials either on or off-campus.
“As of April 12, 6.8 million doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered in the United States. The CDC & FDA are reviewing data involving six reported U.S. cases of a rare and severe type of blood clot in individuals after receiving the vaccine,” the email read. “Right now, these adverse events appear to be extremely rare.”
As of April 18, there are a total of seven active student cases on the University of Mississippi Oxford campus. There are no active faculty or staff cases, or active outbreaks.
