Over half of eligible residents on Lanai, Molokai vaccinated
Lanai to open shots to residents 16 and older on March 27
Lanai Community Health Center estimates it may be able to vaccinate all those eligible and seeking vaccines by the end of this month. Lanai and Molokai are ahead of the curve in the state’s vaccination process, with more than half of the eligible population on each island already receiving doses. LANAI COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER photo
Molokai General Hospital is currently vaccinating eligible residents in Phase 1c; Maui and most of the state remains in Phase 1b. Molokai and Lanai are ahead of the curve in the state’s vaccination process, with more than half of the eligible population on each island already receiving doses. MOLOKAI GENERAL HOSPITAL photo
Lanai Community Health Center estimates it may be able to vaccinate all those eligible and seeking vaccines by the end of this month. Lanai and Molokai are ahead of the curve in the state’s vaccination process, with more than half of the eligible population on each island already receiving doses. LANAI COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER photo
Molokai General Hospital is currently vaccinating eligible residents in Phase 1c; Maui and most of the state remains in Phase 1b. Molokai and Lanai are ahead of the curve in the state’s vaccination process, with more than half of the eligible population on each island already receiving doses. MOLOKAI GENERAL HOSPITAL photo
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Although Maui island has been trailing behind with the vaccination rate of other islands, Molokai and Lanai are ahead of the curve with more than half of the eligible population already receiving doses.
Molokai's main provider is currently in Phase 1c of the vaccine priority group, while Lanai's main provider estimates that it may be able to vaccinate all those eligible and seeking inoculations by the end of this month.
Phase 1c covers adults ages 65 to 74, residents ages 16 to 64 with high-risk medical conditions and essential workers not recommended for vaccines in Phase 1b.
Maui and most of the state remains in Phase 1b where people 75 and older, along with frontline essential workers, may receive doses.
State Department of Health spokesman Brooks Baehr confirmed that Molokai has 5,057 people eligible for vaccinations out of a population of more than 7,000, while Lanai has 2,318 eligible residents out of a population of about 3,000.
"More than half those eligible on each island have already received their first shots," Baehr said earlier this week.
Molokai General Hospital, the state Department of Health Molokai Public Health Nursing Office and Molokai Ohana Health Care are administering vaccines on Molokai. Also, DOH administered vaccinations in Kalaupapa, according to Baehr.
Molokai General Hospital alone has provided 1,108 vaccinations as of late Monday, according to Cedric Yamanaka, director of corporate communications for the Queen's Health Systems, of which the hospital is a member. The doses cover first and second shots.
Yamanaka confirmed that the hospital is ahead of the DOH vaccination phase timeline, which is currently on Phase 1b.
For Lanai, vaccinations have been mainly administered by Lanai Community Health Center and the Kaiser Permanente Maui Lani Clinic.
Lanai Community Health Center in an announcement posted Wednesday opened registrations for any current Lanai resident age 16 and older to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at an event from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. March 27 at Dole Administration Building.
The center said Wednesday that more than 1,000 Lanai residents have already received their vaccine.
"By the end of the month, Lanai providers could conceivably vaccinate all residents who are interested," the center said in a post last week.
Although DOH did not have counts on vaccines administered for Molokai and Lanai, Baehr did detail recent doses allocated to the two islands -- 5,300 for Molokai and 1,900 to Lanai.
Maui island has 127,931 people 16 and older who are eligible for the vaccine, according to Baehr, out of a total population of more than 167,000.
Although exact numbers are not available for Maui doses administered, a total of 52,240 vaccines have been allocated to Maui island, Baehr said Wednesday afternoon.
DOH data as of Wednesday on the percent of the total population vaccinated shows that Maui County trails the other counties at 15.4 percent with at least one dose. Hawaii County has 16.5 percent, Honolulu County has 17.9 percent and Kauai County leads with 22.6 percent.
Concern was sparked during the vaccination rollout in December when Maui received fewer initial doses than other counties and when its main vaccination provider had to shut down for weeks in January due to low supply. Meanwhile, Maui island's positivity rate for COVID-19 infections has been topping the state in recent weeks.
Both state and county officials have said that Maui County had thousands of undercounted doses and that the numbers were "artificially low due to a data reporting lag" on the DOH vaccination website, which has since been reconciled, County Managing Director Sandy Baz said on Friday.
"When they first started reporting it, we were at 8.5 percent," Baz said. "The vaccines that have gotten into people's arms are now getting into the system so they can be reported properly."
Local government and health officials have been anticipating a surge in vaccination availability over the next few weeks.
Maui District Health Officer Dr. Lorrin Pang said Friday that vaccinations administered toward the end of the month may reach 15,000 to 20,000 doses per week.
Last week Maui Health administered about 3,000 shots; this week they've ramped up to about 4,000 shots.
Longs Drugs in Kahului, which is offering vaccines to people ages 70 and older, was fully booked as of Wednesday morning, according to the county. Kaiser Permanente's Maui Lani medical office is also providing vaccines to patients ages 70 and older.
Maui County is receiving 7,710 vaccine doses this week; the county got 5,670 doses last week, Baehr said.
* Kehaulani Cerizo can be reached at kcerizo@mauinews.com.