Slowly but surely, COVID-19 vaccinations in Hawaii are ramping up, with more ways to get immunized. But patience — and precautions — remain the buzzwords of the day. Patience, since vaccination pace is at the mercy of federal supply; and precautions, as in maintaining mask-wearing, hand-washing and social distancing.
Many crucial developments occurred this week, good and bad. Among the good:
>> Johnson & Johnson on Thursday asked U.S. regulators to approve its vaccine, which in trials has shown good protection — including against newer, more-contagious strains — and kept patients from getting so severely ill as to need hospitalization. Also encouraging: This would be the world’s first single- dose COVID-19 vaccine, an easier-to-use option that doesn’t require deep-freeze storage such as the current Pfizer and Moderna ones, which are very effective but require two shots. The implications for more, wider and rural immunizations are huge.
>> Starting Thursday, seven Longs Drugs sites in Hawaii will be part of a limited federal-pharmacy rollout for vaccinations; just 11 states are involved in this initial rollout. More details are expected in a few days about the sites in Honolulu, Kaneohe, Hilo, Kahului and Kapaa.
State Health Director Dr. Libby Char on Wednesday noted the “small amount” of about 4,000 doses here for the CVS foray, calling it a ramp-up to “get the machinery in place” for a future, larger federal- retail pharmacy program. More paths for broader vaccine dissemination are certainly welcome.
As of Friday, more than 189,440 COVID-19 shots had been given — and “it’s already reducing illness and disease in our state and hospitalizations, which is great news,” noted Hilton Raethel, CEO of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii.
Among the bad news, however: The highly contagious “U.K. B1.1.7 variant” of the coronavirus is confirmed to be circulating here, and likely other strains, too. Though not thought to be more severe, the mutations underscore the need to get more people vaccinated as quickly as possible, to stop the virus from replicating, then mutating, in the human body.
Thanks largely to the mass-vaccination sites set up at Pier 2 and Blaisdell Concert Hall, Char said Hawaii “could easily” administer 80,000 shots per week — but federal vaccine allotments have yet to reach even half of that weekly. The amount is starting to rise, but we echo Char’s hope: “just wish it was a little bit faster.”
Till then and even after, remember the powerful preventative tools at our disposal: masking, hand-washing and social distancing. It’s an especially timely reminder on this Super Bowl Sunday, where the best play of the day would be to resist gathering and watch at home.
