As of Tuesday, Maine has an official state website for state residents to pre-register for coronavirus vaccines.
The site, vaccinateme.maine.gov, will allow users to submit information that can eventually be used to schedule vaccine appointments.
“It will not be meant to supplant existing platforms,” said Dr. Nirav Shah, director of Maine’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, during a media briefing on Tuesday, explaining that existing web portals set up by organizations like Maine’s major health care groups will likely still be used by those groups.
Instead, the site is intended to direct Mainers to vaccine appointments offered by smaller clinics and groups offered in more local drive-thru or pop-up settings.
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“The goal is to get as many people registered as quickly as possible,” Shah added.
Asked about the option to switch to the state’s new system, Chief Nathan Schools of the Buxton Fire and Rescue Department, one of the few local entities to have conducted drive-thru clinics in Maine, said his town would likely use an existing portal it has already tested. But he added that all kinds of clinics in other places may well use the system, based on what providers are “comfortable” with.
That said, the website is not able to actually schedule anyone for appointments right now, regardless of whether or not you are an eligible Maine resident.
During his briefing on Tuesday, Shah said that functionality is expected “very soon.”
Information required to pre-register on VaccinateME includes name, age, date of birth and zip code.
There is also an option for those who are homebound to declare so.
As of Wednesday, Maine has fully vaccinated about 16.5% of its population, according to Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker.
