Maine starts using mobile COVID-19 vaccination units to reach rural areas

Mobile COVID-19 vaccination unit gets rolling in rural Maine PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine deployed its mobile vaccination unit on Monday as part of an effort to get COVID-19 shots to remote corners of the state. The unit got its start at the Oxford... AP NEWS

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine deployed its mobile vaccination unit on Monday as part of an effort to get COVID-19 shots to remote corners of the state.

The unit got its start at the Oxford Casino in Oxford. The state has said the unit is only the second of its kind in New England and will travel to communities around the state over the next two months.

The unit will provide at least 250 shots per day and will use the single-shot vaccine from Johnson & Johnson, the office of Democratic Gov. Janet Mills said.

“Over the next two months, the MVU will travel to ten additional rural or under-served communities across Maine, including Fryeburg, Calais, and Madawaska, among others,” Mills’ office said in a statement Monday.

Maine is one of the most rural states in the country and many parts of the state are far from the nearest mass vaccination site. Many of the sites are in more densely populated cities such as Portland and Bangor.

About 46% of the state’s population has had at least a first dose of the vaccine. ...