PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - With COVID-19 vaccines becoming more plentiful, the state is expanding eligibility to those 60 and older next week, and the state will use an age-based approach moving forward, Gov. Janet Mills said Friday.
Noting that 98% of Maine’s COVID-19 deaths have been people 50 and older, the age-based approach to determining eligibility for vaccines is the most practical and equitable, especially in the state with the nation’s oldest median population, the governor told reporters.
Based on her approach, the state will expand vaccine eligibility to people 60 and older on Wednesday, followed by those 50 and older in April, 40 and older in May, and 30 and older in June.
Mills acknowledged it was disappointing news for younger people suffering from chronic health conditions along with educators and others who’ll have to wait their turn by age, she said.
“Please keep the faith and stay safe. Together, we’ll get through this. This simple-age based eligibility will get us through this more quickly than any other approach that I can think of,” she said.
The expansion of vaccines to more age groups was expected, but the announcement provided a clear direction in the approach.
Currently, Mainers 70 and older are eligible along with first responders, health care workers and long-term care residents.
Dr. Nirav Shah, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control, said there’s a strong basis for the age-based approach in science because study after study points to age as the primary factor in determining whether someone develops severe symptoms or dies from COVID-19.
The approach will expedite the process of getting Mainers vaccinated, “helping us to win the race against the COVID-19 variant taking hold in Maine” and look forward to something closer to normalcy this summer, said Health and Human Services Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew.
The age-based approach came after consultations with states that experienced problems enforcing other vaccine criteria like preexisting conditions, which were sometimes difficult to ascertain.
Educators will have to wait their turn by age, but the state will work to ensure that teachers from kindergarten through high school are vaccinated as soon as they become eligible, Mills said.
“Holding dedicated vaccination clinics for eligible teachers and school staff will help to keep them and their students in the classroom,” Maine Education Commissioner Pender Makin said in a statement.
For now, the Mills Administration has purchased 250,000 rapid antigen tests that it has prioritized for schools and child care providers to expand regular testing and support in-person learning.
In other pandemic-related news:
THE NUMBERS
The number of deaths reported by the Maine Center for Disease Control have been up and down in recent days. Forty-one deaths were reported during a 48-hour period, but there were no deaths on Friday.
Generally, though, the number of positive cases and deaths have been tracking downward since the start of the year.
The latest 14-day positivity rate in Maine is 1.59%, a slight decline. State health departments are calculating positivity rates differently across the country, but for Maine the AP calculates the rate by dividing new cases by test specimens using data from The COVID Tracking Project.
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