Letter to the editor: Most vulnerable Mainers pushed aside

As a volunteer vaccinator at Maine Medical Center, I believe that MaineHealth CEO Bill Caron should be ashamed of himself for going against state guidelines in his decision to vaccinate young employees who have no face-to-face contact with patients.

At recent clinics I have vaccinated MaineHealth grant writers, research scientists from the Maine Medical Center Research Institute and medical records employees working from home. None of them was over 70 years old. Meanwhile, my wife’s 94-year-old father, living independently, was unvaccinated until very recently. Elderly patients of private-practice physicians remain unvaccinated. Rural Maine remains largely unvaccinated. What’s wrong with this picture?

Mr. Caron’s hubris is all too familiar in this day and age: Double down and say that he “would make the same decision today … and I know that the entire (management team) would be right there with me.” What arrogance! I challenge the MaineHealth board to go on record and reprimand Mr. Caron’s “I’ve got mine” attitude, but perhaps they, too, share his views.

As a recent editorial in the Portland Press Herald (Our View, Feb. 9) stated, “It’s important to remember that MaineHealth does not own the vaccine that it distributed to its employees. MaineHealth did not develop the vaccine. It did not manufacture it. It didn’t even buy it.”

At a time when public confidence in the vaccine rollout is critical, CEO Bill Caron deserves to be chastised for his role in allowing employees to cut to the head of the line. By doing so, our frailest elderly were pushed aside.

Chuck Radis, DO
Peaks Island