People visited local pharmacies Wednesday as the updated COVID-19 vaccine became available, coming on the heels of a statewide increase in reported new infections.

Hannaford and CVS stores in Lewiston and Auburn started administering the vaccine Wednesday. The updated vaccine protects against the KP.2 COVID-19 variant.

“Preventive vaccinations are the best way to protect yourself and your family from seasonal illnesses,” Dr. Sree Chaguturu, executive vice president and chief medical officer for CVS Health, said in a news release Wednesday. “Access to preventive vaccinations is critical to keeping our communities healthy.”

Reports of new COVID-19 infections statewide have increased weekly since the beginning of July, from 156 new reported infections reviewed by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention the week of June 30, jumping to 344 new reported infections reviewed by the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention the following week, according to data on the Maine CDC website.

New reported infections have increased steadily through the summer to 630 new infections reviewed by the Maine CDC the week of Aug. 18, which is the most recent data available, according to the Maine CDC.

Aroostook County had the highest new reported infection rate from March 8 to Aug. 18 in the state with just under 3,100 infections per 10,000 people, according to Maine CDC data. The new reported infection rate for Androscoggin County from the same time period was about 2,900 infections per 10,000 people, the second highest infection rate in the state during that time period.

The rate of new reported infections for Kennebec County for the same period was about 2,700 infections per 10,000 people, according to Maine CDC data. The rate of new reported infections for Cumberland County for that period was just under 2,500 infections per 10,000 people.

Hannaford started offering the vaccine at its pharmacies first thing Wednesday morning after getting a shipment of them late Tuesday afternoon, according to Pharmacy Clinic Programs Manager Sara Lane. She expects there will be more interest in the vaccine this year compared to last year because of the uptick in cases this summer.

Some people went to the Lewiston and Auburn Hannaford pharmacies Wednesday to get the vaccine but Lane expects there will be many more appointments and walk-ins in the coming days and weeks as children start school again, she said. Many people try to schedule vaccinations at the beginning of the school year before their children can get sick.

There was not a lot of notice given ahead of when the vaccine would arrive so Hannaford and other pharmacies are working to inform people they are available, she said.

The CDC encourages anyone 6 months and older to get the updated vaccination.

COVID-19 is highly contagious, even more so than other respiratory viruses such as the common cold, according to Lane, who is also a pharmacist. The KP.2 variant has become common across the United States.

Even if people have received a vaccination in the past, they should get the updated one to protect against the new common strain, she said.

“Viruses are always mutating and so it’s important we stay on top of it,” she said.

Despite the updated vaccine, Lane expects that COVID-19 new infections to continue to increase into the fall, she said. She hopes in the future there is community immunity but that depends on how much of the population gets vaccinated.

The updated vaccine is available at Community Pharmacy, CVS, Shaw’s Osco, Hannaford, Walgreens and Walmart. Many locations, including Hannaford, will administer a vaccine to someone off the street without an appointment.