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Maui’s vaccination clinics to begin first doses again

Shots will be given to those already in line; no new sign-ups for now

Maui’s main COVID-19 vaccination clinics will once again administer first doses, with Maui Memorial Medical Center set to begin this week and the state Department of Health site at the University of Hawaii Maui College starting next week. However, shots will be only given to those who already signed up; no new registrations will be taken for now. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos

Maui’s main COVID-19 vaccination sites will once again administer first doses, with Maui Memorial Medical Center set to begin this week and the state Department of Health site at the University of Hawaii Maui College starting next week.

However, shots will be only given to those who already have made prior arrangements for the vaccine. Each site is contacting eligible people individually, and neither clinic will offer new sign-ups online for now.

Both clinics stopped administering first doses around mid-January as supplies dwindled and instead have focused on completing second shots over the past several weeks.

At Maui Memorial, which is operated by Maui Health, staff will finish up the majority of second dose vaccinations and begin vaccinating some of its first dose priority individuals this week, including Phase 1b-eligible residents who had their January appointments with Maui Health canceled because of the vaccine shortage, spokeswoman Tracy Dallarda said. Phase 1b covers frontline essential workers and adults 75 years or age and older.

She said patients have been contacted directly to reschedule through a Maui Health appointment system and not through the online Vaccination Administration Management System, also known as VAMS.

Both Maui Memorial (shown here) and DOH’s site at UH-MC stopped administering first doses in mid-January as supplies ran low and lines ran long. The two clinics plan to resume first doses in the coming days for high-priority individuals.

“We are starting with only a few hundred this week, and we hope to open up to more next week,” Dallarda said late Monday afternoon. “Details will be available later this week, and we ask those in our first dose priority group to please watch for an email for further instructions.”

Community members who are waiting to register and make appointments and are in the Phase 1b group should visit mauihealth.org/covidvaccine for more up-to-date information.

Dallarda said Maui Health continues to advocate for more vaccines.

The Maui District Health Office also will resume administering first doses at its UH-MC clinic beginning Feb. 17 for people in Phases 1a and 1b, state Department of Health spokesman Brooks Baehr said Monday.

“Those to be vaccinated include health care workers who have not yet been vaccinated as part of Phase 1a and frontline essential workers in Phase 1b whose names were submitted by organizations that completed the online survey or contacted the Department of Health directly,” Baehr added.

He said DOH is not taking appointments via the VAMS online site.

Bridget Velasco, public health planner with the Maui District Health Office, said Monday that for this week, the UH-MC clinic will continue delivering second doses to those with appointments. Patients will be directly contacted by the district health office when the clinic is ready to administer the second shot, and only those with appointments will be allowed on site.

She said that future plans for UH-MC and other points of distribution for vaccines will be determined by dosage and resource allocation.

So far, 14,381 doses have been administered in Maui County as of Jan. 31, the latest data available from the DOH. Oahu has administered 105,500 doses, while Hawaii island has administered 15,035 and Kauai has given out 11,755. County breakdowns are delivered weekly.

On Monday, Velasco added that the Maui district office is also working in collaboration with community medical providers to get vaccines to patients, including those at Kaiser clinics, Maui Medical Group, Minit Medical, MODO MD and Doctors on Call.

Hana and Lanai public health nurses are collaborating with federally qualified health care centers, including Lanai Community Health Center and Molokai Community Health Center, to provide vaccines in those areas to Phase 1a and 1b clients.

Molokai public health nurses have also been scheduling and giving vaccines to 1a and 1b clients on the island, Velasco said.

Maui District Health Office, along with various agencies, continues to provide vaccines via mobile clinics to people 75 years and older, including those in senior congregate and independent living facilities.

The state is also continuing testing at the Maui Community Correctional Center, where eight inmates have tested positive for COVID-19. No new cases were reported Monday, and the Department of Public Safety said that 29 staff and 25 inmates had tested negative as part of ongoing mass testing. There are currently 19 inmates in medical isolation, including the eight confirmed cases, and an additional 70 inmates in quarantine as they undergo testing.

In a weekly report released Thursday, the Health Department said that clusters currently under investigation in the last 14 days in Maui County included one food supplier cluster with 12 cases, three restaurant clusters of 25 cases, one cluster in the construction and industrial category with six cases and one cluster in the travel, lodging and tourism category with four cases.

Two clusters totaling 120 cases in apartment complexes are still under investigation, including an outbreak at Harbor Lights in Kahului that health officials have said is now “stabilized.”

The state Department of Education also reported Friday evening that between Jan. 30 and Friday, there were two COVID-19 cases involving students in the Baldwin-Kekaulike-Maui high school complexes. Impacted community members were notified and cleaning and disinfection were completed. The cases were reported Thursday.

In the Hana-Lahainaluna-Lanai-Molokai high complex, there was one COVID-19 case involving a staff member that was reported Feb. 2. The DOE also said it gave notice to the impacted community.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.

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