February 19, 2021, 4:34 PM HST
* Updated February 19, at 4:44 p.m.
Hawaii’s state health director, Dr. Elizabeth Char, announced today that the state will soon open COVID-19 vaccines to those 70 years of age or older. Currently, kūpuna 75 or older are eligible for vaccination.
“We are still in phase 1b and we are not yet ready to enter phase 1c. But soon we would like to welcome those aged 70 or over who are vaccinated. We know we still have essential kūpuna and front-line workers waiting be vaccinated, “said Dr. Char. “We’ve been vaccinating kūpuna since mid-January, so we’d like to add 70 or more to keep the vaccine uptake very quickly.”
The Department of Health will announce when sites are ready to accept registration for this new age group.
However, vaccine availability continues to be affected by weather-related delays. 27,700 doses of the Modern vaccine initially expected in the week of February 15 are delayed due to ice storms on the continent.
DOH awaits news on when shipments will resume and when Moderna will ship the pending doses. The state expects to receive more than 50,000 doses by the week of Feb. 22.