Healthcare providers begin pre-licensing of vaccines for Mainers 70 and over

Health care providers in Maine started making appointments this week so people aged 70 and older can get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Major healthcare networks – including MaineHealth, Central Maine Healthcare, InterMed and Northern Light Health, among others – say immunization clinics are imminent. MaineHealth emailed 300,000 patients last week to let them know that patients 70 and older could expect to start making appointments this week or next.

Whether Mainers should call or go online to make an appointment now or in the next week depends on the health care provider. Gov. Janet Mills’ office released a list online Monday where people 70 and older can book appointments. The list is expected to be updated as more health care networks put in place systems for making appointments.

The website lists 18 vendors who will offer vaccines and reminds patients to have proof of eligibility handy. The vaccines are free, but your health care provider may want your insurance information.

MaineHealth was inundated with more than 18,000 calls on Monday, the first day people could call for an appointment, said John Porter, spokesperson for the health network. The weekly supply for the state of Maine is approximately 18,000 doses.

“We are making appointments, but demand is currently outstripping supply,” Porter said. “Patient vaccinations are being rolled out system-wide this week.”

Porter asked those under 70 not to call the appointment number but to check with the MaineHealth website or the COVID-19 website of the Maine governor’s office.

“We’re just in the process of setting up our clinics,” Porter said. “We won’t have as many appointments available this week as we will next week and the week after.”

MaineHealth is the parent company of Maine Medical Center in Portland and an extensive network of hospitals and health care throughout much of the state. Those 70 and over can call for an appointment at 877-780-7545. Porter said the vaccines were available to the general public, not just MaineHealth patients.

A few locations for vaccination sites have been advertised on the website, such as Stearns High School in Millinocket, the Patten Fire Department, and the Knights of Columbus Halls in Madawaska and Fort Kent. But most providers simply list the municipality where the vaccines will be administered.

The rollout comes after Mills announced last week that adults 70 and older and younger with high-risk health conditions would be brought closer to the front of the line for vaccinations.

Maine reported 317 new cases of COVID-19 and three additional deaths on Monday. It was the third day in a row with a comparatively lower number of cases, although it is not yet clear whether Martin Luther King Jr.’s holiday weekend contributed to a delay in reporting of cases.

But with 317 new cases on Monday after 438 cases on Saturday and 340 cases on Sunday, the number of cases is far lower than the more than 800 cases per day that were reported three days in a row last week. The seven-day averages have exceeded 500 daily cases since Jan.6.

Robert Long, spokesperson for the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said the agency’s lab that handled the tests was open on weekends and Mondays, but it is possible that unaffiliated national labs in Maine CDC were affected by the holiday weekend.

Maine CDC director Dr Nirav Shah is expected to brief the media at 2 p.m. on Tuesday. Media briefings that had taken place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays have been postponed to Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The seven-day average of new daily cases was 609.3 on Monday, up from 520.4 a week ago and 447.3 a month ago. Nationally, the number of cases continues to be high and the country has recorded an estimated 390,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Hospitalizations and deaths are lagging behind cases, so Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the new director of the US CDC in the Biden administration, said on Sunday he expected a dark month to come.

“As of mid-February, we predict half a million deaths in this country,” Walensky told CBS News on Sunday.

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 33,876 cases of COVID-19 and 514 deaths in Maine. The new variant of the novel coronavirus has yet to be detected in Maine, but Massachusetts on Sunday became New England’s second state, after Connecticut, to report a case of the variant from the United Kingdom. The variant is no more deadly, but it is more contagious and has led to spikes in cases in the UK and Ireland. The Massachusetts case involved a woman in her twenties from Boston who returned to the United States this month after a visit to the United Kingdom.

This week, details of Maine’s expanded immunization plans are expected to be released, including for those 70 and older, who are moved higher on the priority list.

The state is in the midst of Phase 1A of the immunization program, which includes immunization of health workers, paramedics, nursing home staff and residents.

Parts of Phase 1B will begin before Phase 1A ends, Maine CDC officials said.

Phase 1B will include people aged 70 and over, younger adults with high-risk health conditions, and essential front-line workers, such as teachers, postal workers and grocery clerks. People aged 70 and over are given priority, and although essential frontline workers are in phase 1B, some of these workers may be vaccinated later.

President-elect Joe Biden vowed last week to use the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help with the mass vaccination effort, setting up thousands of vaccination sites across the country. Independent Senator Angus King of Maine signed a letter from 34 Senators waiving the requirement that states provide 25% matching funds for FEMA services used to respond to the pandemic. King said in a press release that the move could potentially save Maine $ 35 million.

During this time, Maine administered 79,149 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, with 67,289 first doses and 11,860 second doses. Currently, 194 people are hospitalized in Maine for COVID-19, including 63 in intensive care.

Biden has vowed to speed up vaccine delivery as state officials, including those in Maine, have complained that shipments have remained relatively stable despite expecting many doses. higher per week now. Maine receives approximately 18,000 doses per week from the federal government.

The deaths reported on Monday include a Hancock County resident and two Penobscot County residents. Two of the people who died were men, while one was a woman. One deceased was in their fifties, while the other two were in their sixties.

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