February 19, 2021, 6:13 pm HST
Vaccination eligibility is about to expand in Hawaii to a slightly younger demographic.
Health Director, Dr. Elizabeth Char, announced on Friday that the state will soon open COVID-19 vaccines to people aged 70 and over. Currently, kūpuna 75 and older are eligible to be vaccinated.
“We are still in Phase 1B and we are not ready to enter Phase 1C yet. But soon, we would like to welcome those over 70 to be vaccinated. We know that we still have kūpuna and frontline essentials waiting to be vaccinated, ”said Dr. Char. “We have been vaccinating kūpuna since mid-January, so we would like to add 70 years or more to keep vaccine absorption really fast.”
The Department of Health will announce when the sites are ready to accept applications for this new age group.
However, vaccine availability continues to be affected by climate-related delays. A total of 27,700 doses of the Modern vaccine originally expected for the week of February 15 have been postponed because of ice storms on the continent. DOH awaits news of when shipments will resume and when Moderna will send the cumulative doses. The state expects to receive more than 50,000 doses in the week of February 22.