Citing unfulfilled commitments, the state said Mainers aged 16 and over will be eligible for coronavirus vaccines on April 19, extending the state’s schedule by about two weeks and opening doses for an additional 483,000 people that day.
Friday’s change of governor Janet Mills came shortly after the neighboring states of Massachusetts and Vermont announced they would open vaccines for that age group on the same day. States are expanding eligibility even further as they expect an increase in doses from the federal government next month. In Maine, healthcare providers will have to prepare to deal with rising demand, which may require more hours and more drive-through clinics.
Mills also announced that Mainers over 50 could be vaccinated starting next Tuesday, just over a week before they were originally considered eligible for vaccination on April 1 under the state’s age-based plan. This will open up eligibility for another 165,000 people. The plan does not take into account the underlying conditions, breaking with virtually all other states.
The move was made in part due to the many appointments available to currently eligible people – especially those in their 60s and daycare teachers and staff – who have not been completed, said Nirav Shah, director of Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention during a press conference on Friday.
“We started hearing about the last day that some places were starting to be empty,” said Shah. “It doesn’t work for us.”
Shah did not link vacancies to hesitation, saying that these middle-aged people may not be able to make appointments immediately due to work commitments. He was confident that they would be able to get a vaccine in the coming weeks, saying he was “encouraged” by federal promises of an increase in doses and indications from the provider that they could increase distribution. Providers can prioritize vaccinations within age groups based on health risks. No vaccine has been approved in the United States for children under the age of 16.
Maine Department of Health and Human Services commissioner Jeanne Lambrew said some people may still struggle to schedule appointments. She said the state hopes to use more of its voluntary COVID-19 workforce, as well as opening up new vaccination routes and more hours to deal with the increase.
Expanded options may be necessary to reach certain rural parts of the population. Maine has vaccinated nearly 16 percent of its population to date, with the counties of Somerset, Oxford and Franklin seeing less than 12 percent of their populations receiving both doses or a single dose, according to state data.
Vaccine allocations were partially driven by the emergency approval of Johnson & Johnson’s unique vaccine, although the allocations have not yet met the promised demand. New cases of COVID-19 have also increased in the state, despite the accelerated release of the vaccine.
Only one other state – Alaska – is offering injections to everyone aged 16 and over now. More than a dozen other states are offering them to people aged 16 and over who have underlying conditions that make them vulnerable to the virus, according to Becker’s Hospital Review. New Hampshire will open vaccines for people aged 16 and over in a few weeks, the Associated Press reported.
Maine has been constantly loosening its eligibility restrictions in recent weeks. The state’s previous schedule for the general public to be vaccinated was May 1, after President Joe Biden ordered states to speed up their deadlines. It replaced a program that weighed health and employment conditions and switched to an age-based system in late February.