Governor Ige says he’s demanding more COVID vaccines from government

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Updated: Feb. 4, 2021 at 4:31 PM HST
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HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Gov. David Ige said Tuesday he is unlikely to support any efforts to loosen Oahu’s tiered reopening system anytime soon.

In a one-on-one interview, he also said he is demanding more vaccines from the federal government.

Ige says 50 locations across Hawaii are administering the vaccine. And while the state gets up to 40,000 doses per week, he wants more.

“We are definitely prepared to deliver more than twice what we are getting right now,” said Ige. “Even at that, it would take us to the end of summer to deliver two doses to a million people.”

Some unions have criticized the state, saying it has no vaccine plan. But Ige says those who have high-contact jobs or cannot telework get first dibs because of the shortage.

“We’ve asked all agencies to identity priority employees,” said Ige.

Meanwhile, the governor also weighed in on a push by the city to more quickly reopen bars and allow youth sports. He said he’s not not ready to let Honolulu loosen up on the restrictions.

“He (Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi) did ask me about that and I suggest that he keep it basically intact,” said Ige.

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