MECHANIC FALLS – Voters who previously thought they’d be able to get their flu shots at the polls in eight Maine towns will get hand sanitizers and pamphlets instead because of the nationwide vaccine shortage.

Mechanic Falls was one of those towns selected by Maine’s Bureau of Health for its Vote and Vaccinate program. However, the program has now been altered to Vote and Educate, said Dr. Dora Ann Mills, Bureau of Health chief.

The original plan was to provide an anticipated 1,500 total doses for the towns of Mechanic Falls, Richmond, Jackman, Waterboro, Bucksport, Newport, Madawaska and Houlton, said Jan Morrissette, public health nurse consultant. When people showed up at their polling places, public health nurses would administer the free flu shots.

“We thought by going to where people were voting, we would reach a lot of people,” said Morrissette. “It’s a day when a lot of people are out and about. But it wasn’t just for voters. It had nothing to do with politics, and was open to the public.”

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation awarded 15 demonstration grants nationwide this year for the first time. Maine received one of those grants, and the state bureau selected the eight towns based on a cross-section of geographic and demographic factors, said Morrissette.

Maine found out it had been selected in September. As public health nurses were gearing up for the program, they found out by the end of the month that plans had to change.

“With the nationwide extreme vaccine shortage, the decision, of course, was made to only give them out to those with the most needs,” said Morrissette. “But we still wanted to provide health education and provide information on how to stay healthy.”

Now when voters show up in Mechanic Falls and the other selected towns Tuesday, they will receive packets of tissues, sample bottles of hand sanitizers, and health education literature, said Mills.

Public health nurses will stress the importance of taking common-sense precautions against common winter illnesses, said Morrissette. Those tips include frequently washing hands, coughing or sneezing into a tissue instead of the open air where germs can travel and spread, and staying home when feeling sick instead of spreading germs to others.

Morrissette said that the state bureau is hopeful that they will be able to provide the vaccine program another year.