Hawaii health officials decided over the weekend to prioritize hotel, restaurant and bar workers for COVID-19 vaccines, in addition to those with specific high-risk medical conditions and residents aged 65 and over.
“We want these people first, for sure. This is because they are at high risk and because we have seen infections in restaurants, hotels and bars. Their specific occupation requires interaction with people, so we want to protect them, ”said Department of Health spokesman Brooks Baehr today. “There are about 500,000 people in phase 1c and we don’t have a chance for everyone today, so we continue to under-prioritize them, just as we did in the previous phases.”
The decision was made after the state announced on Thursday that it would open vaccination appointments for essential workers in phase 1c, which includes “people in industries and occupations important to the functioning of society and most at risk of exposure”, such as those who they work in banks and finance, transportation, energy, construction, media, legal, information technology and public security.
Some workers in sectors outside the latest DOH guidelines have already been named, which will be honored, said Hilton Raethel, president and CEO of the Hawaii Health Association.
“The reason why we restricted only to these groups is that we wanted to manage the population and not just overburden all vaccination centers. Because if people can’t get through, it’s very frustrating. We are trying to manage the flow, ”he said. “It would have been preferable if all of this was done at the same time, but it took a while to reach those decisions.”
In addition to priority workers often interacting with others in high-risk situations, many live in crowded houses, which also puts their families at risk, he said.
“Pacific Islanders work in hotels and restaurants. Many of them live in larger homes, ”added Raethel. “DOH wanted to make sure they got vaccines as soon as possible.”
Health officials are also working to schedule immunizations for groups of essential workers, such as those in hotels, and are running mobile vaccination clinics in public housing and other high-risk environments “where we can really … vaccinate whole families at the same time” .
It is estimated that 115,000 people fall into the 65-74 age group, while 80,000 individuals are in the 1c category of essential workers. Another 340,000 are part of the group of high-risk doctors with severe breathing problems requiring oxygen, individuals on dialysis with end-stage kidney disease and those undergoing chemotherapy or other infusion therapy.
The state is currently administering 10,000 vaccines per day, or more than 60,000 vaccines per week, but has the capacity to administer up to 120,000 doses per week, said Raethel.
Within two to three weeks, the state plans to open immunizations for people aged 60 to 64.
“We are not going to add more diseases or categories. After passing through hotels, restaurants and bars and individuals with high-risk conditions, they will be purely age groups of five, ”said Raethel. “The reason is that it just breaks… so you can roll through them faster. It just makes everything very simple in terms of verification. We want to reach everyone as quickly as possible. “
On Monday, Hawaii Pacific Health, which opened registrations for all essential 1c workers on Thursday before the prioritization groups were determined, was fully booked with 2,000 consultations a day through Saturday.
Hotel worker Barry Niau was one of the first in the 65-year-old age group to be vaccinated on Monday.
“I am more relieved now that I got my first chance. This is the first step to be safe, ”he said.
Health officials registered 46 new coronavirus infections, bringing the state’s total since the beginning of the pandemic to 28,305 cases. The death toll across the state remains at 451, with no new coronavirus deaths reported.