PORTLAND, Maine — In the last month, Maine's COVID-19 the speed of vaccine administration has continued to rise despite repeated changes to the plan of the rollout.
Last week, Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah said the state increased the average number of vaccines per day over a seven-day period by 49 percent: last week they gave an average of 12,612 shots per day; the prior week, that number was an average of about 8,400 per day.
From February 14 to March 13, vaccinators have put more first doses into arms each week than they did the week before.
Week 10: 24,934 first doses
Week 11: 26,701 first doses
Week 12: 40,289 first doses
Week 13: 50,462 first doses
This data from the Maine CDC shows more people are getting vaccinated at faster speeds each week.
Final doses are not seeing the same drastic increase, but overall, are rising, despite a dip from Week 10 to Week 11.
Week 10: 24,502 final doses
Week 11: 23,904 final doses
Week 12: 28,137 final doses
Week 13: 34,983 final doses
Maine CDC director Doctor Nirav Shah says that if Maine keeps getting enough doses, he is optimistic about our continued progress.
"I'm generally optimistic about where we are heading, partly because of the vaccine, and in particular because of the acceleration," said Dr. Shah during Thursday's CDC briefing. "We still have more to go, but I'm guarded and exceedingly cautiously optimistic for the first time in a while."
Last week, Maine gave an average of 12,621 doses per day over the span of a week. The week prior, the average per day was more than 8,400.
As long as Maine keeps getting increases in the vaccine, this progress should continue.