AUGUSTA, Maine — Editor's Note: The video above aired Thursday, May 6.
In a release Monday, Gov. Janet Mills' office announced that she will join President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of governors for a virtual discussion Tuesday about "innovative ways that governors are working to get the people in their states vaccinated."
Mills will join Governors Mike DeWine (R-Ohio), Spencer Cox (R-Utah), Tim Walz (D-Minnesota), Charlie Baker (R-Massachusetts), and Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-New Mexico) to share with Biden some best practices on promoting access to vaccination, building confidence in the vaccines, and ensuring that everyone is reached in the vaccination response.
“I look forward to joining President Biden and a bipartisan group of my colleagues from across the country for this important discussion,” Mills said in Monday's release. “Maine is making nation-leading progress in getting shots into arms, a testament to the willingness of Maine people to do their part and to the teamwork of State government professionals and our health care providers and volunteers. But there is more work to do to get this pandemic behind us, which is why we are doubling-down on efforts to expand access to the vaccine, to get into hard-to-reach communities, and to deliver shots into arms.”
Maine continues to lead the nation in the percentage of its total population that is fully vaccinated, according to Bloomberg. As of Monday, more than 52 percent of eligible people age 16 and older have received a final dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in Maine, and more than 58 percent have received at least one dose of vaccine.
According to the release from Mills' office, Biden plans to acknowledge the role governors have played in the country's vaccination efforts thus far. He will also discuss how continued partnership with governors is critical to meeting his new goal to have 70 percent of adult Americans with at least one shot and 160 million Americans fully vaccinated by July 4, according to the release.
The White House plans to live stream the 1 p.m. event, according to Mills' office.