Bangor Studio/Membership Department
63 Texas Ave.
Bangor, ME 04401

Lewiston Studio
1450 Lisbon St.
Lewiston, ME 04240

Portland Studio
323 Marginal Way
Portland, ME 04101

Registered 501(c)(3) EIN: 22-3171529
© 2025 Maine Public
A fall Maine landscape
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Scroll down to see all available streams.
Millinocket WBSP-FM 90.1 will be off the air daily this week from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm for tower work. Signal will be restored in the evening. Click here for other ways to listen to Maine Public Radio!

Preventable Diseases Down, But Maine Shot Rate Yet To Budge

Public health experts in Maine say cases of chickenpox and whooping cough are falling in the state, but the number of children receiving immunizations for the diseases and others is still lower than it should be.

The rate of kindergarten-age children whose parents obtained religious or philosophical exemptions for them was 5.6% in the school year that ended in June. The Portland Press Herald reports that was the same rate as the previous school year.

The rate of students receiving exemptions figures is expected to fall dramatically next school year, when the state will implement new laws that repeal religious and philosophical opt-outs to the shots. The only exemptions will be for medical reasons, which aren't common.