DOH updates legislature on vaccination efforts, COVID variants
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With Hawaii’s vaccination rate hovering just under the 60 percent benchmark Gov. Ige aimed to reach this month, the State Department of Health (DOH) recently provided an update on vaccination efforts to the Senate Committee on Health and the House Committee on Pandemic and Disaster Preparedness. The briefing also addressed legislators’ concerns about COVID-19 variants, vaccine approval for children, and expanding outreach to counties with lower vaccination rates.
As of Friday, DOH reported 64.7 percent of Hawaii residents are partially vaccinated and 58.1 percent are fully vaccinated. These rates are higher than the national average of 55.1 percent and 47.6 percent, respectively.
Program graduates from the University of Hawaiʻi–Hawaiʻi State Department of Health (
UH–
DOH) Contact Tracing Training Program have been providing critical outreach to communities throughout the state, especially those in Pacific Islander communities who were hardest hit in the state by the
COVID-19 pandemic. Pacific Islanders make up about 4% of the state’s population, but have about 28% of the state’s coronavirus infections, according to
DOH.
UH–
DOH program. Many serve on contact tracing teams for
DOH or other organizations, in roles such as first callers, contact tracers or disease investigators, and play an important part in the state’s