STATE POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
After reviewing the data available, several jurisdictions currently are not recommending COVID-19 vaccination for certain populations. For instance, the state of Florida recommends against healthy children receiving it, a UK scientific advisory panel did not recommend the shots for healthy children aged 15 or younger, and the authorities in the European nations of Denmark and Norway do not recommend COVID-19 vaccination for their citizens under age 50 and 65, respectively. Given these developments, Maine state officials should consider rescinding the recommendation of COVID-19 vaccination for children and healthy adults as well.
The Maine CDC should immediately rescind its rule requiring healthcare workers to be “fully vaccinated” for COVID-19 in order to work in “designated health care facilities.” By issuing this rule, Gov. Mills forced hundreds of health, medical, and emergency workers out of their jobs, at a time when Mainers spend nearly $1,000 more on health care than the average American. Much peer-reviewed science has shown mandatory COVID-19 vaccination carries no benefit to overall public health precisely because it does not confer sterilizing immunity, that which is protective against infection or transmission. Despite this fact, Dr. Shah repeatedly compared the COVID-19 vaccines to other sterilizing vaccines like those for polio and smallpox, but both the smallpox and polio viruses do not have any animal reservoirs. Unlike SARS-CoV-2, they are only carried by humans.
Contrary to the latest CDC guidance, the Maine CDC rule treats vaccinated workers differently than unvaccinated workers. Despite this, a spokesperson for Maine DHHS responded to an inquiry from WMTW reporter Chris Costa that “the new [CDC] guidance is consistent” with its vaccine requirement for healthcare workers. Without providing any reasoning behind this assertion, DHHS lied to Maine people in order for the administration to avoid responsibility for its failed vaccine mandate.
The Mills administration and Maine Department of Education must also make clear to the University of Maine System and the Maine Community College System that they must rescind COVID-19 vaccine mandates for students to pursue higher education in the state. Many in that age group likely carry some immunity from previous infection, which additionally protects them and others against severe outcomes from COVID-19. As a recent preprint paper outlined, the risk-benefit analysis for young, healthy people shows that vaccination is unnecessary at best and potentially harmful at worst.
On October 20, the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, of which Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah is a member, unanimously voted to add COVID-19 vaccines to the recommended schedule of childhood immunizations. Many states look to this list as a benchmark for their own schedule of vaccinations mandated for public school students. Despite Shah’s support for it, DHHS, DOE, and state legislators should resist any attempt to add these investigational products to Maine’s immunization schedule.
Finally, the Maine Legislature should pass a bill amending the powers of the governor in a state of emergency by requiring an affirmative vote of a majority of legislators every 14 days, and allow for legislative revision and scrutiny of the governor’s emergency orders. Emergencies do not last for 15 months. Rules like this could have softened the blow of single-person rule, which led to months of harmful restrictions and lockdowns pushed by the governor.