• 1 hour ago AP Photo/Frank Augstein, Pool
The Hawai‘i Department of Health believes the state will still be able to reach herd immunity against the coronavirus, and it’s taking a grassroots approach to getting more residents vaccinated.
National health experts are not sure if the U.S. will reach herd immunity due to the spread of more contagious variants and vaccine hesitancy among the unvaccinated.
But locally, nearly 720,000 residents have received at least one dose as of May 5, a little over half of the state’s population according to the state s tracker.
Local health officials say there are challenges in convincing enough people to get vaccinated and eventually reach herd immunity.