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The Maui News
The state Department of Health is recommending the use of the first "bivalent" booster vaccines designed to specifically protect against the original COVID-19 and the recent omicron subvariants that are now the most common forms of the virus in Hawaii.
The BA.5 omicron subvariant accounts for an estimated 91 percent of the COVID-19 cases in Hawaii, while the BA.4 subvariant accounts for an additional 4 percent of the cases.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer and Moderna's updated versions of the COVID-19 vaccines. The "bivalent" shots are a combination of the original vaccine ingredients and new protection against the newest omicron variants.
"The COVID-19 boosters we have been using do a good job of protecting us against severe illness," state Health Director Dr. Elizabeth Char said in a news release Thursday. "The new bivalent boosters are an upgrade because they take into account mutations of the COVID-19 virus to specifically address omicron subvariants."
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and DOH recommend the bivalent booster manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech for people ages 12 and older. They recommend the bivalent booster by Moderna for adults age 18 and older.
The new bivalent vaccines are administered as a single booster dose to those who previously completed a primary series of COVID-19 vaccines and those who have had one or two booster doses. Bivalent boosters can only be administered if it has been at least two months since a person's most recent vaccination.
The bivalent vaccines replace previously authorized "monovalent" mRNA boosters for people ages 12 and older. The DOH and CDC continue to recommend Pfizer's monovalent boosters for children ages 5 through 11.
The federal government allotted DOH initial orders totaling 37,800 doses of bivalent boosters, which are expected to arrive in the coming days. DOH said it will place additional orders weekly as needed.
Pharmacies and community health centers are also placing their own orders.
Individual vaccine providers will schedule appointments once they receive delivery of the boosters.
For more information about providers and services, visit the vaccine finder map at hawaiicovid19.com/vaccine/.