Maui County is reminding travelers that they must provide documentation of their COVID-19 vaccination to be exempted from the post-arrival testing requirement.

On May 4, Maui County began requiring all trans-Pacific travelers participating in the Safe Travels program to take an additional rapid COVID test upon arrival at Kahului Airport.

There is, however, an exception for fully vaccinated trans-Pacific travelers with proof of vaccination. A traveler is considered fully vaccinated after at least 14 days have passed since receiving both doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Travelers must provide an original Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccination card or a certificate of vaccination downloaded from the CDC’s Vaccine Administration Management System. No photocopies or photos of certificates will be accepted.

“We remind trans-Pacific travelers that they need to provide proper documentation to be exempted from the post-arrival test,” Mayor Michael Victorino said in a news release. “We need an original CDC vaccination card or a certificate of vaccination from the CDC. We are not accepting copies or photos of vaccination cards.”

Trans-Pacific travelers, or travelers flying directly from a mainland gateway city into Kahului airport, must still satisfy all pre-departure requirements even if fully vaccinated, the county said.

They must have tested negative for COVID-19 from a trusted partner no earlier than 72 hours prior to the last leg of departure to Maui as part of the state’s Safe Travels program to bypass the state’s mandatory quarantine of 10 days.

According to Maui County officials, 17 out of 40,727 travelers that visited the Valley isle during the two-week period from May 4 to 19 got positive antigen test results from required post-arrival testing at Kahului Airport.

After confirmatory tests were administered to those travelers, two yielded positive results for COVID-19, which were referred immediately to the Maui District Health Office.

Maui County said a little more than 30% of about 58,000 travelers to Maui have been documented as fully vaccinated, so far, and exempted from the post-arrival testing requirement.