Maine plans to give first vaccinations to health care professionals, long-term care residents - Press Herald

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Maine plans to use its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine to protect front-line health care professionals at regional hospitals and the residents of long-term care facilities across the state, according to an announcement Friday afternoon.

State officials also said Friday that what appeared to them to be an alarming reduction in the amount of vaccine doses expected to arrive in Maine this month actually reflects a new shipment schedule. Maine will still receive the number of doses originally anticipated, but it will arrive in a series of shipments rather than all at once, officials said after meeting with Maine’s congressional delegation Friday.

The first allocation will be enough to vaccinate about 12,675 people with the first of two required doses of a Pfizer vaccine. Those doses could arrive as soon as the middle of this month and represent the first in a series of vaccine shipments expected to arrive in the coming weeks and months.

Maine CDC has been told to expect two more weekly allocations of 12,675 doses of the Pfizer vaccine, and about 24,200 doses for the first week and 10,700 doses for the second week of a vaccine created by Moderna. Both are still pending FDA authorization, although approvals are expected for Pfizer in mid-December and Moderna later this month.

The initial batches will only be enough to vaccinate a fraction of Maine’s health care workers and long-term care residents. It wasn’t clear when further shipments would arrive.

Of the initial 12,675 doses, the following locations will receive 975 doses each:

• Maine Medical Center in Portland

• Northern Light Mercy Hospital in Portland

• Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor

• Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston

• Northern Light A. R. Gould Hospital in Presque Isle

• Maine CDC

The remaining 6,825 doses will be administered to residents of long-term care facilities in Maine, through an agreement with elder care facilities and pharmacies, according to the announcement.