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61% Of Eligible Mainers Vaccinated Against Covid-19

To understand vaccine-induced immunity more fully, researchers are comparing antibody levels in people who received the Moderna vaccine but still got COVID-19 with levels in people who got the vaccine but didn't fall ill.
Angela Weiss
/
AFP via Getty Images
To understand vaccine-induced immunity more fully, researchers are comparing antibody levels in people who received the Moderna vaccine but still got COVID-19 with levels in people who got the vaccine but didn't fall ill.

As of Wednesday, 61% of the eligible population in Maine is fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Among the entire state population, 54% is fully vaccinated.

Compared to other states, Maine is performing well. But CDC director Dr. Nirav Shah says rates are uneven from county to county - and he says it's imperative that vaccination numbers grow in order to prevent future surges of the disease.

"As a state, we are generally speaking only as safe as our least vaccinated county," Shah says.

Cumberland County has the highest rate of fully vaccinated eligible individuals, at 74%, while Somerset County has the lowest, at 48%.

Eight people in Maine who were fully vaccinated against COVID-19 have died from the disease.

Shah says many of the individuals had underlying health conditions.

"Although there is a possibility someone can still pass away after being fully vaccinated, the question is whether it's better to be vaccinated, or better to not be vaccinated," Shah said.

Shah says if it weren't for the vaccines, the number of deaths would be much higher. Over the course of the pandemic, 843 people in Maine have died from COVID-19.