Maine’s COVID-19 vaccination program will receive a substantial boost next week, with an additional 10,010 doses, an increase of 28% this week.
According to federal data, Maine will receive 45,200 doses next week, against 35,190 doses that were sent to the state this week.
Most of the increase is due to an increase in the supply of Johnson & Johnson’s unique vaccine, which went from 1,600 doses last week to 8,100 doses in the week of March 29. Maine is also receiving 23,400 doses of Pfizer and 13,700 doses of Modern Vaccines next week.
In addition, an as yet undetermined number of vaccine doses will flow to Maine through a federal retail pharmacy program that includes Walmart, Sam’s Club, Walgreens and Hannaford’s. In the past few weeks, Maine has received about 12,000 doses through the retail pharmacy program, which is currently vaccinating school staff exclusively.
If the retail pharmacy program continues to receive 12,000 doses or more in the next week, Maine in total would be approaching about 60,000 doses in the next week.
The Biden government has indicated that vaccine supplies will become more plentiful in late March and April.
Meanwhile, Maine reported 199 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday. There were no additional deaths.
The 199 new cases on Wednesday almost correspond to the seven-day average of 200.1, almost identical to the 199.9-day seven-day average of the previous week, but higher than 148.6 of the previous month. The seven-day averages of around 200 are still much lower than the more than 600 average cases a day in mid-January, in what has so far been the peak of the Maine pandemic.
Overall, Maine recorded 48,972 positive COVID-19 tests and 731 deaths.
The state has created a website, vaccinateme.maine.gov, which will be used to schedule appointments. The new site is currently pre-registering. It will not replace the current systems used by Northern Light Health and MaineHealth to register people for vaccinations at mass immunization sites in Portland, Bangor, Scarborough and Sanford. Instead, the site is expected to be used for smaller vaccination clinics, not operated by major health systems.
The state made a “smooth launch” of the new site, without any prior advertising, on Tuesday, the same day that Maine residents aged 50 to 59 became eligible for vaccination. The expansion means that an additional 164,000 Maine residents can now apply for vaccines as vaccine supplies increase in Maine, with more doses expected next week.
As of Wednesday, 376,628 Maine residents had received at least the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, representing 28 percent of the state’s 1.3 million population. In addition, 228,353, or 17 percent, received their final dose.
This story will be updated.
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