The pace of COVID-19 vaccinations in Maine is slipping.
The state currently ranks about 26th among U.S. states for the percent of first doses administered. At the end of February, the state ranked 15th.
Maine CDC director Nirav Shah says his agency is working to understand why. But he says the addition of two new high-volume clinics this week in Sanford and Portland should help pick up the pace.
“We think both of those will be big steps in the right direction to help get as many folks vaccinated as quickly as possible. The other is that there are more such sites that are in the works for opening very shortly as well,” he says.
Shah says he also moves doses around when they’re not being used. Shah says the CDC this week redirected 1,170 doses from Walgreens for that reason.
