MAINE (WMTW) – The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention has launched a new mobile app called Docket.

The app allows Mainers to securely access their vaccine records.

“Docket can be used to share immunization records with health care providers, for school or child care registration, or as a reminder for Maine people about vaccinations that they are due to receive,” said Maine CDC Director Dr. Putheiry Va. “With schools starting, weather getting cooler, and respiratory virus season upon us, this new app makes it easier and faster for Maine people to put their hands on their up-to-date vaccination records right when they need them.”

The Docket app is free and can be downloaded on Apple and Android app stores.

You must be at least 18 years old to use Docket. Parents or guardians can get access to vaccine records for minors.

The Maine CDC says there has been an increasingly high demand for access to vaccine records in the last several years.

So far this year, the Maine CDC has received over 3,000 requests for immunization records.

For comparison, there were only 111 requests in 2019.

There is also a Docket website where you can verify your identity and access your records.

Hard copies of vaccine records can still be requested through a health care provider’s office.

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PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — A man connected to a homicide in New Hampshire was fatally shot by police on a bridge that connects the state to Maine. An 8-year-old child was found shot to death in the man’s car, the attorney general’s office said Thursday.

The Piscataqua River Bridge along Interstate 95 has been closed since about 3 a.m. and traffic was backed up on both sides as drivers were diverted to two other bridges. The Piscataqua bridge connects Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Kittery, Maine.

The incident appears to have started with a man killing a woman at a home overnight in Troy, New Hampshire, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) away in the western part of the state, and then driving to the bridge, Attorney General John Formella said in a news release.

“Early this morning police engaged with the adult male on the bridge in an incident that ended with the male being fatally shot. The Maine Attorney General’s Office is now investigating that officer-involved shooting incident,” the news release said.

“Police on the bridge also found an 8-year-old child fatally shot” in the man’s vehicle, the news release said. “The exact circumstances surrounding this incident remain under active investigation.”

There was no threat to the public and the bridge remained closed in both directions because of the investigation, the news release said.

No names have been released.

Between 70,000 and 80,000 vehicles use the Piscataqua bridge each day, according to the Maine Department of Transportation.

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Associated Press reporters David Sharp in Portland, Maine, and Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.

On Wednesday a new set of rules for Maine’s Paid Family Medical Leave program that incorporates public comments received at a hearing earlier this summer was released. More than 15 clarifications and amendments that address everything from private family medical leave plans to self-employed workers is addressed in the second draft of rules.

Senator Mattie Daughtry, Assistant Senate Majority Leader, said with a program of this size a slow deliberative process was important.

“The first public comment had 1,000 comments from 300 people. You can see those comments were incorporated. So having this second comment period is important so that when it goes live in January that it is meeting the needs of what we need for this program in our state,” Daughtry said.

Maine’s Paid Family Medical Leave program would allow employees to take up to 12 weeks of leave to care for a newborn or adopted child or to deal with a serious health condition.

Luke Monohan, Director of the Maine Paid Family Medical Leave program, said feedback from a diverse group of businesses and public members lead to commonsense changes that will make the program better for workers in Maine.

“It’s a complex program. It’s a program that will affect almost all workers and businesses in Maine. The fact that we were able to integrate so much and come up with so many changes and make people feel heard in the process,” Monohan said.

In a statement the Maine State Chamber of Commerce said the new proposed rule allows employers to declare private plans at least 12 months earlier than the previous rule and revises the ability for businesses to assert a hardship for leave.

The revised proposed Rule:

• Clarifies the definition of family member.
• Clarifies the role of employee leasing companies.
• Determines employer liability based upon an employer’s established payroll in 20 or more calendar workweeks in the 12-month period preceding September 30th of each year by Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN).
• Clarifies the circumstances under which volunteers are not covered by the law.
• Clarifies that an applicant must be employed on or before the day the approved leave will begin.
• Clarifies eligibility for leave that runs concurrently with the Federal Family Medical Leave Act in the year before benefits for the Paid Family and Medical Leave Program are taken.
• Amends provisions regarding notice and undue hardship.
• Clarifies that fraud means “willful” acts.
• Changes certain timelines.
• Explains and clarifies the role of the Maine Bureau of Insurance and the Maine Department of Labor regarding the review of fully-insured private plans.
• Clarifies the definition of income for self-employed individuals to elect coverage.
• Amends the reasons an employee or employer may seek an appeal and notification to parties for appeals.
• Amends the factors to determine minimum criteria for substitute plans.
• Amends the process for submitting applications for substitute plans beginning April 1, 2025. Amends the start of premium exemption and benefit coverage relative to private plan substitution approvals. 
• Establishes application fee for substitution of private plans.
• Adds a section establishing the process for requesting advisory rulings.

A public hearing on the new rules will be held September 17 in Augusta. Public comments will be taken until September 30.

The final rules must be established prior to January 1, 2025.

Get notified of announcements regarding the Maine Paid Family Medical Leave program.