Vaccine Q&A Update: When can I expect to get an appointment with MaineHealth?

Maine’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign is well underway, albeit at a slower pace than desired due to limited vaccine supplies. The demand is so high even among the small subset of Maine’s population eligible for vaccination – those 70 and older – that most are still waiting for appointments.

Here are the answers to some of the many questions about the state’s immunization program. You have others? Send them by e-mail to [email protected].

I am over 70 years old and have been successfully registered for a vaccine with MaineHealth. It was weeks ago, however, and I heard nothing. What do I do?

Unfortunately, you have to keep waiting. And we don’t know how long.

Due to the extremely limited vaccine supply, MaineHealth only schedules immunization appointments a week in advance based on the number of doses it expects to receive from the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. . MaineHealth officials declined to provide an estimated wait time on Wednesday for appointments for eligible Mainers who have registered due to future supply uncertainties.

“Because the vaccine supply is so low and unpredictable, and the… number of people signing up, we are unable to provide estimates at this point,” said MaineHealth spokesperson John Carry.

This week, MaineHealth was scheduled to receive approximately 5,300 initial doses of the vaccine across its hospitals in Portland, Brunswick, Biddeford, Franklin, Damariscotta and Rockland. And some of those vaccines were intended for the Scarborough Downs mass vaccination site which opened on Wednesday and could potentially vaccinate up to 2,000 people a day – but only when they have the doses on hand.

As of Wednesday, 65,000 people who are currently eligible for vaccination had pre-registered with MaineHealth, and more and more were registering every day. And although the majority of vaccines are given to Mainers 70 or higher as part of phase 1B, some healthcare professionals, public safety workers, or COVID-19 response officers within phase 1A are still vaccinated.

“If the federal government suddenly gives us a lot more vaccines, the wait time will be shorter,” Porter said.

What happens if I miss my appointment call? Will I lose my place online?

MaineHealth “will try several times over the next few days” to reach someone who was not available when called for an available vaccination appointment, according to a frequently asked questions feature on the company’s website . After three unsuccessful attempts, the system will “leave a message with instructions on how to connect directly with our appointment scheduling team”.

MaineHealth appointment calls will come from 877-780-7545, so keep that in mind if you aren’t answering calls from unknown numbers or have a system that tries to block spam calls.

However, people who miss a meeting call don’t necessarily need to wait by the phone for the next call.

They can call that MaineHealth number – 877-780-7545 – and if the system recognizes the caller’s number as belonging to someone who needs to get an appointment, the call will automatically go to a scheduler. But callers should use the same number in the recording system and should not “block” their number from showing on Caller ID.

This process will only work for those currently eligible for nominations. All other calls will go directly to the recording system.

I have registered with MaineHealth but still want to confirm that I am “on the list”. Is there a way to do this?

No not right now.

“Once you’ve signed up and received that confirmation (when calling for registration), you can be sure you’re on the list,” Porter said.

Why doesn’t Maine have a centralized statewide system for people to register and schedule immunization appointments like other states do? And is there one?

Maine and about 40 other states chose not to use a new system launched by the federal government because it did not offer a one-stop solution for recording, scheduling, and tracking immunizations statewide. Other states have launched their own systems, but Maine (which has the oldest population in the country and, at best, spotty internet access in many areas) has yet to do so.

As a result, each hospital network or healthcare system in Maine uses different systems that do not necessarily communicate with each other.

The Maine CDC is working on a statewide online registration system as well as a centralized call center for those who do not have access to a computer or need help getting register and make appointments. But it won’t be available for several weeks, if not a month.

“Across the Maine CDC this is probably the top priority for our entire team. It’s an all-gas, no-brakes situation or solution that we need to have ready to go, ”Maine CDC director Dr. Nirav Shah said in his briefing Tuesday.

I would prefer to be vaccinated by my personal physician, but this is a small independent practice. When will doctors’ offices not affiliated with a hospital or health care network start receiving doses of vaccine to administer?

This is an ongoing topic of discussion at the state level. But at this point, it is still a long way off.

Asked about this during his briefing on Tuesday, Dr Nirav Shah of Maine CDC said the priority now was to vaccinate as many people as possible each week without having any remaining doses at the end of a clinic. The Pfizer vaccine lots, which require ultra-cold storage, contain more than 900 doses each while the Moderna lots contain approximately 100 doses each, but each vial (containing 10 doses) should be used within six hours to avoid to be spoiled.

The Maine CDC has so far given most of these doses to hospitals and health care networks capable of achieving this “high throughput.”

“Independent medical practices can play a role in this,” Shah said. “But if we bring 500 more doses into the state, we have a choice to make. Right now, our goal is to get those doses to places that we know without a shadow of a doubt can achieve this high rate. When we have a much higher supply of vaccines, we hope to be able to provide them to independent medical practices. But at the moment, we don’t know when that will be the case.

This is a source of frustration for some primary care physicians and private practitioners who insist they have the staff and resources to quickly identify eligible patients, schedule and administer immunizations. The Maine Medical Association also discussed small practices working together to organize joint vaccination clinics capable of attracting larger numbers of patients.

What is the latest schedule for vaccinations in Maine?

The phases listed below can (and will) change, depending on federal dose deliveries and the effectiveness of the state’s vaccination campaign. But here are the latest estimates:

• Phase 1A (healthcare professionals, public safety officers, COVID-19 response personnel, long-term care homes): started in December and ends in early February
• Phase 1B (Mainers 70+, followed by adults with high-risk health problems, 65-69 year olds and some essential workers): started in late January and is expected to continue through April.
• Phase 1C (other critical workers not included in phase 1B): May and June
• Phase 2 (all others aged 16 and over): June and summer

Where is Maine in the vaccination rollout?

Phase 1A is ending and vaccinations for Mainers 70 or more are underway as part of Phase 1B. Maine’s 70-and-over population segment alone is over 190,000, and the state only receives about 20,000 new initial doses of vaccine per week from the federal government.

Vaccinations for people with high-risk health conditions, as well as those aged 65 to 69, will likely begin later this winter or early this spring (again, depending on vaccine stocks), after significant progress among those aged 70 and over. Then some “essential frontline workers” will become eligible.

Which “essential” workers can get vaccinated first?

The Maine CDC and Mills administration have yet to make that call because they are focusing on the more than 190,000 residents age 70 or older. Federal guidelines have identified teachers, daycares, grocery store workers, postal workers, transit workers, and those involved in agricultural / food production as essential workers, but states have great discretion in prioritizing those. vaccinations.

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