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AUGUSTA, Maine – Maine may soon expand COVID-19 vaccinations to people aged 65 to 69 as federal allocations continue to rise and a new vaccine from Johnson & Johnson may be approved for use in emergency this weekend.
Maine is expected to receive more than 38,600 first doses of vaccine next week, the most it has received in a week since vaccinations began in December. About 30,000 are allocated to vendors through the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, while more than 8,000 go to Walmart and Walgreens stores through the federal retail pharmacy program.
The state expects the higher federal vaccine allocation to continue, said Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Additional supply could be underway if the single dose vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson is cleared for emergency use. Federal advisers to the Food and Drug Administration will meet on Friday to discuss the vaccine after an agency report released on Wednesday concluded that the vaccine is effective and safe.
Shah declined to say Thursday how many new vaccines Maine could initially receive if the vaccine was approved, saying nothing had been finalized. But he hinted that it could help Maine expand eligibility, saying the approval “would help us move further down the path.”
“All of these things, the volume, the type, and the stability, expand the range of options we have in Maine for the next leg of our vaccination journey,” Shah said. “I suspect that Gov. [Janet] Mills will have a lot more to say on this subject in the very near future. “
Shah and Department of Health and Human Services commissioner Jeanne Lambrew declined to say when the Democratic governor’s announcement might come. Lambrew said that is unlikely to happen on Thursday.
As of Thursday, more than 211,000 Mainers received the first doses of the vaccine, while more than 105,000 received second doses, according to state data. Maine extended eligibility to residents aged 70 and over in mid-January after initially offering vaccines to residents of long-term care facilities, healthcare workers, emergency responders and some other workers considered essential to the state’s response to COVID-19.
People aged 65 to 69 are next, according to the state’s immunization plan, followed by adults with certain pre-existing conditions and some frontline workers. The state has so far declined to say what pre-existing conditions or what types of workers will be eligible.
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