Saving lives and preventing serious illness and suffering has been my fundamental goal throughout this pandemic.

Last week I announced how we intend to use the vaccines to do just that.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

Well after consulting with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and the Maine CDC, I concluded that it would be best for Maine people that I adopt an age-based approach to expanding vaccine eligibility. 

What does this mean?

Well simply put, your eligibility for a COVID-19 vaccine will be determined by your age.

Why did we make this change?

Well, my fundamental goal throughout this pandemic has been to save lives and protect our most vulnerable people. So the question is, who is it who’s most likely to suffer and even die if they do not get the vaccine?

Medical evidence, scientific evidence backed by the data here in Maine, indicates that age is really among the strongest indicators of whether an individual is likely to become seriously ill and die from COVID-19, more so than other risk factors such as underlying medical conditions.

So after vaccinating our health care and emergency first responders, we moved to vaccinate those 70 and older last month.

So far, more than 70 percent of those people 70 and older have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

This achievement is the result of hard work by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, the Maine CDC, Northern Light Health, Maine Health, and many other health care providers. 

We owe them a great debt of gratitude for their work to stand up and run clinics across the state, for getting shots into arms, and, most importantly, for saving lives.

That work must continue.

This week, under the new plan, all Maine people who are 60 years of age or older become eligible for the vaccine. That’s about another 200,000 people in our state.

There is one exception now to the age-based plan because this week, President Biden directed all states to vaccinate school staff and childcare workers.

So under our plan, we had already prioritized vaccinations for school staff within their age categories. But as a result of the new directive, we have updated our plan to make pre-K-12 school staff and childcare providers, regardless of age, eligible immediately for the vaccine.

We will continue to expand vaccine eligibility by age going forward, opening vaccinations to those who are 50 years or older in April, and then 40 years or older in May, 30 years and older in June. Anyone younger than that will be eligible in July.

Well if the supply increases in the coming weeks and months — and the President has promised that it will — and if we are able to make efficient progress, it is possible we can accelerate these timeframes.

We are undertaking the largest mass vaccination effort in our history, and there is no quick and easy way to do this, believe me.

I know that every decision I make will impact people in our state in different ways and I carry with me the weight of making, fundamentally, life or death decisions. 

That is why, throughout the pandemic, I have based my decisions in science and fact and have always tried to do what I believe in the best interests of all Maine people. Given that Maine has the oldest population, the oldest median age in the country, this approach, I believe, will benefit the most people in the fastest way possible, certainly compared to the approaches of some other states.

I know this time frame is still fraught with some anxiety and the pandemic is still among us and variants are emerging. 

I want you to know that I hear you, that I care about you, and I am grateful to you for your understanding and your patience throughout this historic effort. 

We will get through this together.

I pledge to you that we will work day and night to get everyone vaccinated as quickly as possible.

Please keep the faith and stay safe.

This is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

Like all of you, I want to get our state back on track. I want to get people back to work. I want to diversify our economy too, in the long run providing good-paying jobs in every corner of this state and providing opportunity for all Maine families.

I want a future in this state for every Maine child. I want people to see Maine not simply as “Vacationland” but as a great place to live year-round, work and raise a family.

And we want all our young people to know that they don’t have to leave the state to get a first class education or to find work that is gratifying, useful and financially rewarding.

We will build that Maine and we will build a better, brighter future for all of us.

So, where do we start?

Hey, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

My Administration’s 10 year economic development plan and the recommendations of the Economic Recovery Committee I convened last year, point the way to a brighter future.

To accelerate Maine’s economic recovery, get people back to work and expand our economy, in the coming weeks, my Administration will present to the Legislature our “Back to Work” bond proposal.

In addition to investing in roads and bridges, working lands and waterfronts, research and development, and energy efficiency, the Back to Work Bond will include $30 million to expand broadband across Maine, building on our successful efforts last year to secure $15 million in new funding for broadband. Everybody has problems connecting to the internet and we need to address that now all across the state.

We’ll also propose $25 million for equipment for Maine’s Career and Technical Education programs and for Maine’s Community College System to train skilled workers to fill jobs in high-growth industries.

Along with that, there’ll be $50 million proposed for Maine farmers, foresters, and fishermen to increase local processing infrastructure and improve access to markets and add value to products grown, caught, and cultured here in Maine.

We’ll also propose $6 million for grants and low interest loans to renovate and expand and construct childcare facilities and increase the number of childcare slots, with half of that money going to the underserved communities in rural Maine.

Now, I have heard some say that we should enact sweeping budget cuts instead of making these smart investments in our state.

Look I know that State government cannot be all things to all people all the time. And that it cannot solve all our problems or address the needs of all people.

But history shows that we cannot cut our way to prosperity. During emergencies such as this, people depend on their government to protect children, to secure health care, to provide public safety, to safeguard educational and career opportunities and to protect the most vulnerable of our citizens.

Well I am not going to walk away from, or abandon, Maine families in their time of greatest need — especially when it is not necessary to do that.

State Treasurer Henry Beck reports that interest rates remain at historically low levels. As a result of our good fiscal stewardship, Maine’s credit rating has been reaffirmed during the pandemic while other states have seen theirs downgraded. So it’s a good time to make this proposal.

My budget proposals provide basic continuity, consistency and stability, something our state needs at this time. My “Back to Work” bond proposal will also speed up our economic recovery.

The time to invest in our economic recovery is now. The time to move forward on Maine’s economy is now. The time to get Maine back on track and back on its feet is now.

This is Governor Janet Mills.

Please stay safe and thank you for listening.

Last week, Maine sportsman and author George Smith passed away after a courageous four year battle with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.

George loved Maine. And Maine surely loved George.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

George Smith was an avid sportsman, a prolific writer, and a good-natured friend to all.

He was Executive Director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine for 18 years and he helped create, and then later served on the board of, the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, which has provided more than $20 million for conservation and outdoor recreation projects.

For decades George Smith also wrote columns for The Maine Sportsman magazine, the Kennebec Journal, the Bangor Daily News, and the travel column Travelin’ Maine(rs). He published three books, A Lifetime of Hunting and Fishing: The Ones That Got Away and the Ones That Didn’t, Maine Sporting Camps, and A Life Lived Outdoors: Reflections of a Maine Sportsman.

In addition to all of that writing, for 13 years George hosted the television show “Wildfire,” a show I got to appear on once and a while, that was dedicated to hunting, fishing, conservation, and environmental issues.

George also gave back to the State of Maine through public service, serving five years on the Winthrop Town Council, three terms as Mount Vernon Selectman, one term as Kennebec County Commissioner, seven years on the Mount Vernon Planning Board, and 38 years as a trustee of the Dr. Shaw Memorial Library.

George was the very embodiment of the character of Maine. He was strong but kind, independent but compassionate, wise but humble.

His decades-long advocacy on behalf of conservation contributed to the preservation and the protection of forests, lakes, and streams across our state. Now that will all be enjoyed by generations to come. He put his money where his mouth is. He donated 125 acres in Mt. Vernon to the Kennebec Land Trust, lands to be preserved and protected in perpetuity.

George’s love and respect for our great state is only surpassed by the love which its people, including this Governor and many governors before me, all had for him.
His was a life so fully and so well lived, even as he fought the ALS disease with his characteristic grit, fortitude, and courage to the very end.

I am deeply saddened by his passing, but I know that Maine will best honor his legacy by exploring and loving the camps and cottages, diners, inns, lakes and lands — everything that makes Maine this special place — as much as he loved them too.

My heart goes out to his wife and co-explorer and co-author, Linda; to his children and grandchildren; to his brother, Gordon; and his sister, Edie, during this difficult time.

May the citizens of Maine all emulate his great love for this great state.

This is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

Maine’s making good progress on preventing the spread of COVID-19, there’s no question about that. The number of new cases, number of people in the hospital with COVID, the rate of people dying with COVID, those are all decreasing. At the same time, the number of vaccines we have administered is increasing – one day this week alone we administered over 10,000 doses, the highest number in a single day to date.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

We are ramping up our efforts to deploy every dose of vaccine we get as quickly as possible to reach people in every corner of our state — last week we partnered with Scarborough Downs to open a large community vaccination site, and the new site at Bangor’s Cross Center is up and running and this week we partnered with 24 private pharmacies beginning to vaccinate people all across the state.

That progress is important, but this process sure is complicated. Maine is undertaking the greatest logistical challenge in generations.

The success of this effort depends on so many factors, including things outside our control.

The limited number of vaccines we get from the federal government; the ultra-cold storage necessary for the Pfizer vaccine; the two dose regimen for both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines; Maine’s unique demographics – our much higher percentage of older people and people with underlying medical conditions as well as our far flung rural communities, our dispersed population — these are all challenges we are dealing with.

Because of those issues and because of the limited supply of vaccine we focused first on vaccinating Maine’s health care, public safety, and critical COVID-19 responders — the people on the frontlines of the coronavirus battle; we next focused on protecting the most vulnerable of our citizens, not those whose professions simply bring them into contact with the public, but those people who are most likely to suffer and die if they do contract COVID-19 — that means, statistically, people age 70 and older.  

There are nearly 200,000 people aged 70 and older in Maine and to date, only 71,000 of them have received their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. We are about a third of the way there, just in the first doses administered for that particular vulnerable population.

Late last year, the U.S. CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) issued a document that recommended that states vaccinate quote “frontline essential workers” with older adults after health care workers. 

We’ve gotten hundreds, if not thousands, of questions from Maine people from all professions asking if they will be deemed “essential workers” and if so, when they will be able to get the vaccine.

Well, first, we still have nearly a hundred and thirty thousand people over the age of 70 who are waiting for their vaccine. Next week we will be getting about 22,000 doses from the federal government. At this rate, it will take several weeks just to reach the next phase of our vaccine distribution plan and believe me no decisions have been made regarding who that phase might include.

And things may well change between now and then, for better or for worse. New vaccines may become available, ones that are easier to store and distribute, our supply of existing vaccines from the federal government may change, or the rate of transmission, hospitalizations or deaths in Maine could shift, particularly with the new, more contagious variants of the virus appearing in our state.

This is a race against time.

People are eager to know who will be in the next phase of our vaccine distribution plan. But it would be premature to make that decision today. Things are likely to change before we are ready to implement the next phase.  

Secondly, I have said it before, but I will say it again — everyone in this state is essential. There’s no one who’s not essential in my view. Right now, we are targeting our limited supply of vaccine to save the most lives, but every single person in Maine is a priority. You are all my priority.

Course the uncertainty around vaccines is definitely frustrating, but I will always be honest with you about the hurdles we are facing and what we’re doing to get around them.

As you await your vaccine, please keep the faith. You will be vaccinated; it is just a matter of time.

And to those who have been vaccinated and those who are still waiting, please stay safe. Take the steps we know will keep us all healthy – wear your mask, watch your distance, wash your hands and avoid gatherings. 

Speaking of gatherings, next week is February school vacation. I know people will be tempted to organize social occasions with friends and family during this time, but please remember COVID-19 is not taking a vacation. 

So find fun things to do safely, especially outdoors like hiking, snowshoeing, skiing or ice fishing. This week I signed an Executive Order to create a free fishing week from Saturday, February 13 to Sunday February 21. Just register online at mefishwildlife.com/icefishing and fish for free without a license on Maine’s waterways. Of course bag limits, and other rules and regulations, apply.

I hope to see you out on the ice next week.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.