COVID vaccines are now available at local pharmacies

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) – It is now easier to get vaccinated. Along with vaccines being distributed by the Mississippi State Department of Health, local pharmacies are now able to make getting vaccinated easier than ever before.

“It sneaks up on you and before you know it, you’re deathly ill,” local pharmacist, Kin Seto said.

Kin Seto is just one of the 318,000 people in the state of Mississippi who have had COVID.

“I took the necessary precautions and still, I had a secondary infection that really got me and that was double pneumonia and severe dehydration. That’s when I was hospitalized and spent Thanksgiving in the hospital,” Seto said.

While Seto caught COVID before the vaccine came out, he is now fully vaccinated and as a pharmacist, is encouraging others to get vaccinated too.

“Right now, the vaccine is free to everyone so, they should, you know, other than some medical or religious reasons, I highly recommend taking the shot,” Seto added.

Hank Norwood, a pharmacist at Allegro Plaza Pharmacy, says getting vaccinated has never been so easy.

“A lot of senior adults might have a hard time staying in line that long waiting and waiting and waiting, you know, to get the shot. So if you can walk in off the street and do it, I think that’s so much more convenient,” Norwood said.

Norwood added that a friendly face might encourage the community to trust the vaccine.

“We did not do a lot of the immunizations, but now it’s come that way. And I think we’ve seen a lot of, um, good results from that. We had less flu cases, we have, obviously we’re eliminated some of these cases of COVID too by having these shots,” Norwood said.

“Other than the physician, your pharmacy is going to be, has direct ties to your patient. And being so, so available to them, it makes it easier. And, like I said, most of our customers are, like I said, almost like family. We’ve been treating them for years,” Seto said.

The pharmacies at the Donut Factory, Dutch Village, and Southern Drugs all offer the Moderna and Johnson and Johnson vaccines.