Two days before Christmas, COVID-19 vaccines went into the arms of Maui County’s first responders. That’s when the Maui District Health Office and partners
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COVID-19 vaccinations will start at Maui Community Correctional Center next week as the jail deals with its first outbreak of the pandemic. MCCC currently has 18 active cases after two inmates recovered from the virus.
The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo
Maui Community Correctional Center inmates will be vaccinated against COVID-19 starting next week amid efforts to tamp down an outbreak at the jail, the state Department of Health said Wednesday.
The vaccine will go to inmates who request it, about 60 percent of the population, said Bridget Velasco, a planner with the Office of Public Health Preparedness at the Maui District Health Office.
mtanji@mauinews.com
Maui Health is beginning to contact about 5,000 people whose vaccination appointments got canceled at the hospital’s vaccine clinic due to the lack of supply.
“We are reaching out to those people directly. If you are one of those people, you should be getting an email from us in the next two weeks on how you can reach back to us to get set up for an appointment,” said Dr. Michael Shea, chief medical director of Maui Health, which operates Maui Memorial Medical Center.
Maui Memorial is not doing the rescheduled appointments via the online Vaccination Administration Management System, also known as VAMS, since they are still not open to the general public, Shea said during a county news conference Wednesday afternoon.
The Maui News
Every 10 years, a group of residents gather to review the Maui County Charter, the guiding document for local government. This year, the council will nominate nine members of the Charter Commission, while the mayor will nominate two. Here are the nine council nominees:
⢠Grant Chun, current executive director for Hale Mahaolu; former managing director of Maui County from 1999 to 2002; A&B Properties vice president, 2002-17. Nominated by Council Chairwoman Alice Lee (Wailuku).
⢠Keoni Kuoha, interim executive director, Maui AIDS Foundation, February 2019 to May 2019; executive director, Papahana Kuaola, 2016-19; coordinator, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries/NOAA, 2011-14; faculty, Kamehameha Schools Maui, 2007-11. Nominated by Council Vice-Chairwoman Keani Rawlins-Fernandez (Molokai). Kuoha is from Maui, as there were no applicants from Molokai.
Feb 6, 2021
Congratulations to Mayor Michael Victorino and the county of Maui, as well as Dr. Lorrin Pang and the Department of Health for organizing and executing the ongoing COVID vaccination program at the University of Hawaii Maui College campus.
This certainly would not have been possible without the help of Chancellor Lui Hokoana, the UH-MC staff, the National Guard and hundreds of volunteers.
As an island and as a community, it could be only a couple of more months to see major positive changes. However, if we want to get out of this mess, we all have to help out.