HONOLULU (KHON2) — The state’s first mass vaccination site opens Monday, Jan. 18, at Honolulu Harbor Pier 2.
Hawaii Pacific Health said nearly 600 people have signed up for Monday and the rest of the week is booked with appointments.
“It’s a big deal day,” said Lieutenant Governor Josh Green. “They’re going to be vaccinating people all throughout the weekend, at a pretty good pace.”
A Hawaii Pacific Health spokesperson said 1,500 people, which is the daily maximum amount for the first week, have already registered to receive the vaccine Tuesday through Friday.
For now, the mass clinic is open for those 75 years old and older, or Hawaii Department of Health approved essential workers.
HPD wants to remind people that no walk-ins will be allowed and everyone who has an appointment should arrive no earlier than 30 minutes before their allotted time.
To date, Lt. Gov. Green said nearly 60,000 people statewide have been vaccinated. The state receives an estimated 120,000 to 150,000 doses a month.
“Each day, it’s going to get bigger and bigger. There are several sites across the state that will do over 1,000 (vaccines) and some will approach 2,000 just tomorrow alone,” he said.
Green shared that the state expects to receive 32,300 doses this upcoming week. He said 19,000 will be for second shots and 13,000 will be for first shots.
“I would think that we’re going to double the number of people that we’ve vaccinated to date in the next 10 days, double the number of shots, because we have them now in state and there are so many people that are starting pods,” Green explained. “We just had to have the guarantee that we had enough of the second doses so we didn’t leave people in the lurch.”
He asks people to be patient through the process.
Green said he hopes that by the end of February, everyone in the Phase 1A and 1B category who wants the vaccine is able to get vaccinated.
He also said he’s hopeful the AstraZeneca and Johnson-and-Johnson vaccines will be approved between the end of February and early May. Green said the Johnson-and-Johnson vaccine could be just one dose but not as effective.
“If you get two more companies on board, imagine doubling that. So, you get to a quarter of a million doses, and that’s how we’ll really rapidly get through the vaccination process,” Green explained.
The goal is for other essential workers and those 65 years old and older to be vaccinated in March and April, followed by healthy and non-risk residents.
“Hopefully by July 4 weekend we will have vaccinated many, many of our citizens, and we can start, you know, approximating kind of a new normal. That’s the hope. It’ll depend completely on how fast the feds and all these companies get us the you know, the vaccine,” he said.
Queen’s Medical Center will have a mass vaccine clinic at the Blaisdell next week starting with 2,000 vaccines. An appointment is required.
Both facilities say they hope to increase the number of daily vaccinations to 4,000 or 5,000.
