An Augusta-based health provider offered a small number of early doses of the coronavirus vaccine to donors and retired medical staff last month, starting that process more than a week before widely registering people 70 and older for appointments on Friday.
The effort by MaineGeneral Health, which operates the large hospital near Interstate 95 in Augusta, is unlike any other in Maine so far. Employees of the philanthropy office called people who have donated to the hospital to help schedule them for early appointments. While the scope looks relatively small, it is reminiscent of situations across the country that have drawn negative attention recently as limited vaccines begin to roll out widely to an anxious public.
“As we see numerous reports of line jumping and favoritism, any situation that could lead to distrust in the fairness of the vaccine allocation process needs to be proactively managed,” said Holly Fernandez Lynch, an ethics professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school. “Redeploying staff to help with vaccination is reasonable, but care should have been taken to avoid fundraising staff connecting with prior donors on this.” READ MORE
It was the smallest daily increase in coronavirus cases the state has seen since Nov. 15 when 149 cases were reported. That comes as Maine has seen a steady decline in the size of daily growth in confirmed virus transmission, a trend that has been mirrored nationally. READ MORE
A group of 10 Republicans senators led by U.S. Sen. Susan Collins is hoping to get President Joe Biden’s support for a more narrowly tailored COVID-19 relief bill in a bid to keep Democrats from moving forward on a party-line measure.
The Maine Republican and nine other senators — including Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, Utah’s Mitt Romney and North Carolina’s Thom Tillis — sent a letter to the Democrat on Sunday asking for his support for their package. Any package backed by Democrats and those 10 Republican senators would be just enough to pass the Senate with a 60-vote majority to break the filibuster.
“In the spirit of bipartisanship and unity, we have developed a COVID-19 relief framework that builds on prior COVID assistance laws, all of which passed with bipartisan support,” the senators wrote in the letter. “Our proposal reflects many of your stated priorities, and with your support, we believe that this plan could be approved quickly by Congress with bipartisan support.” READ MORE
