Drive-thru vaccination site not on the horizon for Pearl River County

Published 7:00 am Tuesday, March 2, 2021

It looks like Pearl River County will not be getting a drive-thru vaccination site.

The Pearl River County Board of Supervisors discussed it during a regular meeting held Monday. District II Supervisor Malcolm Perry asked if the administration heard back from the Health Department about a potential drive-thru vaccination site in the county.

County Administrator Adrain Lumpkin said that the Health Department is only opening two drive-thru vaccination sites per Highway Patrol district, except in Jackson where there is a third site. So, while the Health Department would try to assist, a site in the county would have to be staffed by county personnel, so the Supervisors would have to find volunteers to run it. Additionally, the vaccine doses for any county drive-thru sites would be taken from what is already being allocated to medical clinics in the county, Lumpkin said. So having a drive-thru site would not increase the county’s vaccine allocation.

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According to previous reporting, both Pearl River County Hospital and Highland Community Hospital staff have been administering COVID-19 vaccines and demand for vaccines was higher than vaccine supply.

Lumpkin said he did not think the Supervisors would want to get into vaccine distribution.

The Board entered executive session to discuss potential litigation.

In other business the Board:

—Approved hiring three full time corrections officers and one patrol deputy, and accepted the resignation of one patrol deputy. The Board also approved hiring a new dispatcher for the Central Dispatch Center.

—Approved renewing the ESRI Sole Source maintenance agreement for $26,513. The software is used for Pearl River County’s GIS/Mapping.

—Approved advertising for a new distributor truck, as the county’s is leaking.

The next Board meeting will be Wednesday, March 10, at 9 a.m. to discuss repairing county roads. The Board also has a regular Board meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 17 at 9 a.m.