Maine could start vaccinating residents aged 65 to 69 next week

Reta Morrill receives a vaccination from Dr Chuck Radis during a vaccination clinic Feb. 14 at the Bracket Memorial Methodist Church on Peaks Island. Gregory Rec / Team Photographer

Maine is set to begin vaccinating residents aged 65 to 69 as early as next week, a welcome sign amid a continuing downtrend in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

Additionally, another retail pharmacy giant – Walgreens – is expected to start vaccinating people 70 and older in Maine and 22 other states this week. Walgreens joins the Walmart and Sam’s Club locations as places where people can schedule vaccine appointments, in addition to clinics that have already been set up by hospitals, primary care centers and other agencies health care.

Although no specific timeline has been set, Governor Janet Mills and Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew said Maine would likely start vaccinating 65- to 69-year-olds once both. third of those 70 and over. the elderly population had received their first vaccines. With about 53 percent of those 70 and over now vaccinated and vaccine stocks increasing, that milestone could be reached next week.

“In addition to reaching a point where a significant majority of Maine residents aged 70 and over have been vaccinated, the weekly vaccine allocation of our federal partners could affect when people aged 65 to 69 can. start scheduling vaccination appointments, ”Maine Center for Disease control and prevention spokesperson Robert Long said Monday in an email response to questions.

The Maine CDC reported 97 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, the lowest total since 89 cases were reported a week ago and the second time in eight days the agency has reported fewer than 100 new cases. No additional deaths were also reported for the second day in a row.

Pandemic conditions have improved considerably since mid-January, with the daily number of cases falling to levels not seen since early November. The seven-day daily average of cases is now 118, up from 268 cases two weeks ago and 499 cases a month ago.

Despite positive trends in Maine and across the country, the United States has now passed the grim milestone of 500,000 Americans dead from COVID-19, by far the highest number of any country. The Biden administration commemorated them with a candle-lighting service in Washington on Monday night.

Maine’s COVID-19 death rate of 487 deaths per 1 million people is the fourth lowest in the country, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Only Alaska, Vermont and Hawaii have experienced fewer deaths per capita than Maine. New Jersey has the worst death rate in the country, with 2,558 deaths per million people.

In addition to the increased vaccine allocation in Maine, an additional 4,680 doses are expected to arrive in Maine on Wednesday for use at Walgreens sites. Although appointments were not yet available on Monday, Walgreens is expected to start scheduling on Tuesday. Those interested in making an appointment should visit Walgreens.com/ScheduleVaccine.

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 43,594 confirmed or probable cases of COVID-19 in Maine and 658 people have died, according to the Maine CDC. As of Monday, 72 people were hospitalized for COVID-19, including 22 in intensive care and six on ventilators. The number of hospitalizations has dropped significantly from its peak of 207 on January 13.

“Overall, there are a lot of positive signs on the horizon,” Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine CDC, said on the “Maine Calling” public radio show Monday morning. Shah warned that a major risk is the arrival of a more contagious variant of COVID-19 – first detected in the UK – which has now been detected in two people in Maine.

But Shah said that with an aggressive vaccination schedule and continued use of public health measures such as wearing masks, avoiding gatherings and staying physically away from others, it is possible to stay ahead of the curve. variants and reduce cases. He pointed out that the UK had done a good job in limiting the spread of the variant through aggressive vaccination and some early restrictive measures.

“What this tells me is that it’s not inevitable to be overrun with the new variants,” Shah said.

The slowdown in new cases and hospitalizations comes as COVID-19 vaccinations increase in Maine, with 296,253 total injections, including 200,322 first doses and 95,931 second doses. Those who received at least the first dose of the vaccine represent 14.9% of Maine’s 1.3 million people.

For seniors – a major goal of vaccine rollout since mid-January – 103,198 of the estimated 193,000 Mainers aged 70 and over have now received at least the first dose of the vaccine. There are approximately 90,000 Mainers in the 65 to 69 age group.

Maine will receive a 14 percent increase in vaccine doses for this week, with more than 27,000 doses shipped. Additionally, the federal government’s pharmaceutical partnership is expected to double the number of doses available in Maine this week at Walmart, Sam’s Club and now Walgreens, from around 4,300 doses per week available for those 70 and over to nearly 9,000 doses. .

That leaves Maine with approximately 36,000 doses to administer this week. That’s about double the number since late last month, when Maine regularly received about 18,000 doses per week.

Shah said that while doses of the vaccine are more abundant, supplies remain the biggest obstacle to immunizing more groups of people, such as young people and front-line workers, including teachers. He said if the supply increased in the coming weeks, the state could “open the doors further” to widespread vaccination.

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