PORTLAND, Maine (AP) Maine Gov. Janet Mills said Wednesday the state will align its coronavirus vaccination plan with President Biden’s call to immunize teachers and school staff.
Maine had recently unveiled an age-based system to determine vaccine eligibility, and expanded eligibility to people who are 60 and older on Wednesday. Mills, a Democrat like Biden, said she shares the president’s desire to get teachers vaccinated.
The push to vaccinate teachers and school staff will make more than 50,000 people eligible for the coronavirus shots, Mills said. More than 10,000 were already made eligible by expanding vaccines to people age 60 and over, she said.
“We will continue to work day and night with our health care providers to get shots into as many arms as possible, as quickly as possible, focusing our efforts on those most at risk of dying if they contract the virus,” Mills said.
At the national level, President Joe Biden has also pledged enough vaccines will be available for every American adult by the end of May.
Mills said the state is looking for details about when more doses of vaccine will arrive in Maine. She said the state isn’t making any changes to its own vaccine time frame yet.
Mills and other state officials have said Maine hopes to extend the coronavirus vaccine to people age 50 and older starting in April and people 40 and older in May.
