PORTLAND, Maine (AP) Maine expanded eligibility for the coronavirus vaccine to people who are 60 and older on Wednesday.
State officials announced last week that Maine will use an age-based eligibility system to deliver the vaccines. Maine has been focusing on people who are older than 70 and health care workers.
New tiers of people who are eligible for the vaccine will follow. Officials said eligibility will expand to people 50 and older in April, 40 and older in May and 30 and older in June. Younger people will be eligible in July and beyond.
The age-based system will allow Maine to roll out the vaccine as quickly as possible and increase the amount of the population that is protected, said Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Nirav Shah.
“It means we can proceed as quickly as possible,” Shah said. “The more people we can vaccinate in the shortest matter of time, the safer all of us will be, especially in light of the variants we now see not just in Maine but all across the country.”
