WISCASSET, Maine — While first responders and health care workers across the state continue to get vaccinated for the coronavirus, a group of doctors is urging state officials to prioritize its vaccination plan.
"We've been completely forgotten about," Dr. Cortney Linville told NEWS CENTER Maine.
Linville, a physician at Wiscasset Family Medicine, said she first heard of efforts to track down private practice doctors like herself through the Maine Medical Association two weeks ago but has yet to receive any definitive information from the state.
"This isn't taking vaccine from someone else and giving it to us, we just want to be counted," Linville said. "I don't need to be vaccinated today or tomorrow. I just need to know when, when we're going to be vaccinated."
Linville said she and her staff continue to see patients, including those who test positive for COVID-19.
A spokesperson for the Maine Medical Association told NEWS CENTER Maine Wednesday it is now in communication with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Dept. of Health and Human Services.
This comes after the organization was outspoken in newspaper and public radio reports earlier in the week about the need to prioritize small, rural providers.
"We’ve been very encouraged by our recent direct conversations and operational discussions with Maine DHHS and CDC. Doses are already reaching some practices," MMA spokesperson Dan Morin said.
Morin noted that it is difficult to gather data and map-out delivery, especially in rural communities.
The Moderna vaccine, for example, only comes in 100-dose packs and must be used immediately given refrigeration requirements.
"Optimally, the hope is to reach those folks over the next few weeks," he said.
As of Wednesday, more than 23,000 doses of the vaccine had been administered statewide.
Maine has received 5,000 fewer doses than first promised by the federal government, according to the Maine CDC.
"Maine has not received the allocations of vaccine we thought we would," CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah said in a press briefing Wednesday.
Shah vehemently denied claims that independent providers were "forgotten" and said hospital care settings have been a priority all along.
He said his team is coordinating with Maine Medical Association officials to devise and execute a plan, but said it would be a challenge.
"Independent medical providers will certainly be vaccinated," Shah said. "The question now is how we furnish vaccines to them in a manner that can accommodate the high throughput, and make sure they can all be vaccinated as quickly as possible."
Linville said she is still waiting, and she said she hopes all doctors are prioritized, for themselves and their patients.
"From doc to doc, nurse to nurse, everywhere in between, everyone just wants everyone to be safe," she said.