AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine got a little further down the road to "Vaccinationland," as Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah calls it, reaching another COVID-19 vaccine milestone on Wednesday.
According to data from the U.S. CDC, 70 percent of Mainers age 18 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Five other states—Vermont, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Connecticut, and New Hampshire—have reached this milestone.
“Maine continues to make nation-leading strides in getting shots into arms,” Maine Gov. Janet Mills said in a release Wednesday night. “Maine people, our medical professionals and volunteers across the state, the Maine National Guard, and our teams at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Maine CDC all deserve credit for this achievement. There is more work to be done, and we will continue our efforts to make the vaccine more accessible for more people, as we also encourage folks to do their part and roll up their sleeve to help us get back to normal faster.”
The data from the U.S. CDC includes doses of Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
In Maine, all people age 12 and older can get vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, with parental consent, and all age 18 and older can get the Moderna or Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine.
As of Wednesday morning, 1,267,389 total doses of the vaccine had been administered in Maine, and 51.34 percent of eligible people had received a final dose.
“It is exciting to reach this milestone for adults on the same day that the U.S. CDC affirms the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s authorization of the Pfizer vaccine for children ages 12 to 15,” Maine Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew and Shah said in a joint statement. “As we strive to get shots in the arms of the remaining adults who are unvaccinated, we support expanding efforts to vaccinate Maine children.”