Maine may offer more walk-in vaccine clinics as demand softens, COVID-19 rates remain high

Maine state public health officials are working on Wednesday to create more carry-on options for COVID-19 vaccination, with new cases proliferating primarily among young individuals. He said he was.

Dr. Nirab Shah, director of the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said this week the state’s decision to offer unreserved slots to mobile vaccination clinics has already shown interest in that option. He didn’t provide details, but said the state is working with providers to see if other vaccination sites can make the switch.

“We are still seeing strong demand, and we need to make it more accessible,” Shah said in a media conference call with health authorities in other states on the topic of vaccine hesitation and supply. Said. The call was sponsored by the Shah-Presidential and Territory Health Officials Association.

According to Bloomberg News state-by-state trackers, Maine continues to lead the nation in terms of fully vaccinated residents, but demand, especially in the more rural areas of states where vaccination is likely to hesitate. There are small signs that it is softening.

Shah is proud that Maine has been working on vaccination so far, but a shift in approach is needed to reach individuals who do not want to be vaccinated as soon as the vaccine is available. He said it was likely to be.

“Sure, the challenge is imminent,” he said.

John Porter, a spokesman for Maine Health, the state’s largest healthcare provider, said authorities were “actively developing other ways to schedule vaccines,” but weren’t ready to announce yet. ..

Maine Health is working on a waiting list for vaccinations this week as well, but Porter said the list is shrinking.

A man passing by the site of the Port City Music Hall, which was closed due to a pandemic. The future location of Arcadia. Ben Macanna / Staff Photographer

Northern Light Health spokesman Chris Faccini said there were no immediate plans to provide walk-in access.

“Vaccine supply is still limited, so providing carry-on can be frustrating for our community members,” he said. “Pre-scheduling appointments reduces the waiting time for the general public on the ground and ensures that doses are available when people arrive.”

With the annoying increase in new cases in Maine, concerns about reaching herd immunity are becoming more serious. State health officials reported 500 new cases of COVID-19 and one additional death on Wednesday. The average number of cases per day for seven days was 442, more than double last month. Two weeks ago, the average was 310 cases, but this time last month it was 206.

Of the 500 new cases on Wednesday, 338, or 68 percent, were under the age of 40 and this group was only eligible for short-term vaccination.

Hospitalization is also increasing. The number of Mainers hospitalized for COVID-19 increased to 110 on Wednesday, the highest total since February 10. Of these, 39 are on critical care and 15 are on ventilator. Hospitalizations, which ranged from 70 to 80 for over a month, increased in the last two weeks and exceeded the 100 threshold in six of the last seven days.

Since the pandemic arrived in Maine more than 13 months ago, there have been 58,465 confirmed or possible cases of COVID-19 tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Maine, with 768 deaths from the virus. Did.

As of Tuesday, Maine also reported 107 so-called “breakthrough” cases of fully vaccinated individuals subsequently infected with COVID-19. These are expected because no vaccine is 100% effective, but these cases are only 0.02% of those who have completed vaccination in Maine so far.

Maine leads the country in terms of fully vaccinated residents, but vaccination was delayed this week. This is due to the reduced dose entering the state and the suspension of Johnson & Johnson vaccine administration. On Monday and Tuesday, the state issued nearly 4,000 fewer shots each day than last Monday and Tuesday.

Mr Shah said he did not yet believe that demand was declining overall. However, according to this week’s report from the Kaiser Family Foundation, vaccination enthusiasm could decline within the next two to four weeks.

“When this happens, efforts to encourage vaccination become much more difficult and present the challenges of reaching the expected levels of herd immunity,” the report said.

What’s more, Maine will receive the same number of doses as this week – a total of 36,460 doses of Pfizer and modeler vaccines. The total does not include doses sent directly to retail pharmacies or federal qualified health centers. I don’t know those numbers until the weekend.

As of Wednesday, a total of 1,021,208 vaccinations have been given since vaccinations began in December. Of these, 579,498 were the first dose, representing 51.5% of the Maine population aged 16 and over, and 441,703 were the second dose, accounting for 39.3% of the population aged 16 and over.

Of the 390,908 mainners over the age of 60 who are at greatest risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19, 74% are fully vaccinated, which is close to the herd immunity threshold.

It is not yet known if the young population of Maine will reach the level of vaccination to achieve herd immunity. Shah said this week that the main CDC will complete a new round of ads on Facebook, Instagram and other social media sites. The state also worked with the Maine Medical Association and the Maine Osteopathic Association to shoot a short video talking about why primary care physicians were vaccinated.

Shah said building confidence in the vaccine would be paramount as the state moves to the next stage of vaccination. He said people who are eligible for vaccination but have not yet fallen into one of three categories: not, now, and never before.

Those who cannot do so may be trapped in their homes or lack transportation. The state has been working for weeks to reach those individuals.

The “not now” category is made up of people who “seriously ask questions about the safety, effectiveness, and applicability of vaccination.”

“We are trying to provide this group with honest, science-based answers,” he said.

Anna Zink, Alaska’s Chief Health Officer, said in a conference call Wednesday that the vaccine was “one of the safest things we do in medicine” and is a way to combat the virus. , Instead of defense. One messaging strategy for convincing young individuals is that there is an economic benefit to being vaccinated, that is, if she is infected with the virus or is in close contact with the infected person. Said to remind them that they would not be forced into quarantine or quarantine.

Shah admitted that the “unprecedented” group would be harder to persuade, but he hasn’t given up. He said the strategy is to find a reliable messenger that helps connect with the individual.

“We need to have respect and attitude,” he said. “Contempt has never changed anyone’s heart.”

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