![]() ![]() The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photosĪn American Airlines jet approaches Kahului Airport in February. Officials are considering a vaccine passport pilot program that would allow travelers to get out of testing and quarantine requirements if they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19. 15, the day the state’s pre-travel testing program launched. Travelers pass through Kahului Airport on Oct. Mayor Michael Victorino said Thursday that he would be supportive of King’s Cathedral’s plans as long as they followed health guidelines such as wearing masks and physical distancing. ![]() Davison said that King’s Cathedral, which is dealing with a cluster of about 55 cases across multiple congregations, will consider the county’s offer to hold Easter services at War Memorial Stadium as a safer in-person alternative. * Dakota Grossman can be reached at Cathedral Administrator Kelly Davison speaks during the county’s news conference on Thursday afternoon. “But my recommendation would be to go forward with things like the vaccination passport, continue to accelerate the vaccine rollout which we’re getting more doses each week, and no one should panic - we’ve seen a significant drop off in cases among our elderly,” he added. The Valley Isle’s recent COVID-19 clusters, Green said, are probably because “people are feeling a little bit safe, and we’re not quite safe yet.” Green, who said in February that Maui County had 10,000 to 12,000 doses undercounted, assured that the county is on track with distributing vaccines.ĭOH data shows that 28.1 percent of the county’s population has received at least one dose, which is in line with Hawaii island at 27.7 percent and Oahu at 27 percent.ĭue to Kauai County’s small population size, a larger proportion of people, 37 percent, has received at least one dose. So I see it as a benefit.”Īs of Thursday, 28 percent of the total population of Hawaii had received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the state Department of Health. “I think most of the country is going to be vaccinated by midsummer. ![]() “If we keep this all in effect through 2021 - the option for testing - but meanwhile, if most people replace it with the vaccine card or passport that will be on an app, then that ought to be enough,” Green said. Hawaii is on its way to herd immunity, with about 1.4 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine anticipated to be administered statewide by July 4, which is between 900,000 to 1 million people, Green said. “I think we have to worry more about people not wearing masks and feeling overconfident because we’ve started to vaccinate our whole state.” “I’ll keep pushing and we’ll do the safest program that we can, but I don’t think we have to worry too much about fake vaccination passports. “You have to ask yourself, how crazy does someone have to be to falsify a vaccine record, pay all that money to travel to Hawaii, run the risk of a quarantine violation, which carries a $5,000 fine or a year in jail,” he said. The card is standardized by the CDC.”Ĭoncerns over forgeries of vaccination cards are an aspect to consider, though Green doesn’t anticipate this becoming a major problem, saying “we will still do some verifications manually if we had to.” “If you don’t have the digital app, the card is sufficient. “I say test it out for a month and then begin to use it for Mainland travelers and in the interim race ahead the best you can to digitize it,” Green said. New York and Israel have recently launched vaccine passport apps. Officials are working on the details of the program, including how to verify if someone is vaccinated, whether through an application downloaded onto a user’s phone or by checking the physical vaccination card a person receives after their shots. Green said the Safe Travels program is working, but is often uncomfortable and expensive for travelers, and the “next iteration of safety is going to be a vaccine passport.” “What we’re potentially missing out on is visitor dollars this summer from people who are planning their vacations right now trying to make sure they can get a hotel and rental car on island but concerned that their vacation could still be destroyed because their PCR test results didn’t get back in time.” “I think the faster we can get a vaccine passport the better,” said Bonham, UHERO’s executive director and professor of economics. Carl Bonham, head of the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, said during a webinar on vaccinations and the economy on Thursday that “there’s nothing easy about setting up the vaccine passport.” ![]()
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