Editorial: The military COVID gap

Once again, there’s a palpable disconnect — instead of an aligned, coordinated COVID-19 effort — between the state Department of Heath (DOH) and the military here. A concerning gap seems to exist in what should be a “we’re all in this together” sharing of vaccination information.

Hawaii’s population is about 1.4 million, and that includes a sizable military presence. In its daily report, the DOH takes pains to detail how many vaccinations are dispensed each day, out of how many doses available, and what that translates to in percentages of the population vaccinated. That’s good and obviously important: Hawaii is collectively working toward herd immunity against COVID, achieved when at least about 70% of the population is vaccinated, and policies are informed by solid data.

But here’s the rub: The number of vaccines administered by the military is not included in DOH’s daily report, and DOH spokesman Brooks Baehr last week noted that “we’re totally blind on the military” vaccinations.

That stands to compromise the accuracy of Hawaii’s vaccination data. Flying blind on the military’s efforts results in unreliable vaccination percentages for Hawaii overall.

Such significant nondisclosure is not the first time the military has been less-than-equal partners in Hawaii’s fight against COVID. Last June, when the state was under strict 14-day quarantine for travel due to coronavirus concerns, the military enabled too-wide exemptions. Essential troop assignments were quarantine-exempt, justifiably — plus, troops were supposed to adhere to military “restriction of movement” rules in their first two weeks here — but the exemption added military dependents to the list. After reports of gatherings without masks or social distancing, military policy was tightened to exempt fewer from the state’s quarantine.

As for vaccinations: Encouragingly, DOH reported a couple days ago that civilian COVID immunizations have topped the significant milestone of 500,000. Efforts must continue apace in increasing the supply of doses weekly, and in distributing shots as swiftly as possible. To that end, the military had good news: It already is vaccinating all eligible defense personnel ages 16 and up — a huge step-up over Hawaii civilians awaiting limited-supply doses. Residents here with military ties and eager for the vaccine should be exploring that avenue.

It will take all of us to overcome the pandemic in Hawaii — and having good vaccination data is key to success and recovery. The military is an integral part of this community, and it needs to be more routinely forthcoming with data on how it’s doing on the vaccination front.