MAINE, USA — Some of Maine's independent health care providers are starting to get the COVID-19 vaccine this week after calls to prioritize them in the state's vaccination plan.
"We're excited," Dr. Cortney Linville said. "The main reason for us to get the vaccine is so that we can keep caring for our highest risk patients."
Linville, who works at a private practice in Wiscasset, told NEWS CENTER Maine last week she was among more than 1,000 independent doctors, nurses and staff in the state "forgotten" by state health officials.
The Maine Center for Disease Control (CDC) denies that claim.
Linville said Tuesday she and her team are now scheduled to be vaccinated in the next week through coordination with MaineHealth.
Other providers in rural communities remain in the dark.
"I still don't know when I'm getting the vaccine," Dr. Cathleen London said.
London, who operates a private practice in Washington County, said she has been seeing and testing COVID-positive patients from the start of the pandemic, and should be prioritized.
"Get it to us. Make it so we can go anywhere," London said. "They're doing these ridiculous things that if you've been treated at a large center, maybe they'll reach out to you and all these other complicated ways of maybe getting vaccinated."
London said once vaccinated, small private doctors like herself would be able to take the burden off of hospitals and administer the vaccine to communities that might otherwise be hard to target.
Like Linville, independent providers are now depending on the state's largest health care organization, including MaineHealth.
A spokesperson for the health system released the following statement:
"At this time, in accordance with the guidelines set by the U.S. and Maine CDC for the initial phases of vaccine distribution, MaineHealth is vaccinating its care team across the system, including clinicians and support staff. MaineHealth is also offering vaccine to physicians and other providers who are employed elsewhere but who serve on the medical staffs of its hospitals, as well as to their practices' other clinicians and support staff."
The Maine Medical Association (MMA) has been working with the Maine CDC to coordinate vaccination efforts with providers statewide.
"We're happy to see our independent colleagues being vaccinated," MMA President, Dr. Karen Saylor, said in a statement. "Our singular focus continues to be working side-by-side with Maine CDC until each physician practice has access so we can start vaccinating our high-risk patients."
The overall vaccine rollout in Maine and across the country is much slower than expected due to supply concerns.
"We can only move as fast as the vaccines we are getting them," Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav Shah said in a press briefing Monday.
Shah has repeatedly said Maine has received fewer doses of the vaccine than initially promised by federal officials.
For those independent providers, they fear if they are not able to get vaccinated it will directly impact their patients and future any vaccination efforts too.
"If I'm not protected, I'm knocked out a whole lot of people lose care," London said. It's not okay."
The state is still in the very first phase of its vaccination plan. There is still no definitive timeline for when it will be expanded.
More than 35,000 Mainers have been vaccinated so far.