Gov. David Ige expects the first round of COVID-19 vaccines for Hawaii children ages 5 to 11 to begin around Nov. 8, following expected federal approval.

An initial shipment of around 40,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine would cover about one-third of all island children ages 5 to 11, Ige told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream program today.

The state is planning on more than 150 vaccination locations for younger children, including the possibility of more than 100 schools to serve as vaccination sites.

Ige assured parents that only children with documented parental approval will be vaccinated against COVID-19 following the state’s previous school-based vaccination programs.

“We are taking the school flu vaccination efforts that we’ve done in the past,” he said. “No child will be vaccinated unless they get approval of their parent and that will have to be documented before the child would be scheduled for a vaccination. We are prepared because we’ve done school vaccination efforts for flu and other things. We feel pretty confident that only those children who have their parents’ approval will be vaccinated.”

Approval of the Pfizer for children ages 5 to 11 could come as early as Nov. 2, 3 or 4, Ige said.

“We are planning to be ready for our first children vaccination clinics beginning in and around Nov. 8th — assuming that it’s approved on the second, third or the fourth — and we want it to make it available as broadly all across the state as we can.”

“We believe that this is a game changer,” Ige told Spotlight Hawaii. “It really gives parents the opportunity to protect their children and we want to be prepared and will be rolling out the vaccines as quickly as we can receive them.”

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Gov. David Ige joined the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s “Spotlight Hawaii” livestream show today to answer viewer questions. This series shines a spotlight on issues affecting Hawaii.

Replay the video above and watch our past livestreams at this link.

“Spotlight Hawaii,” which shines a light on issues affecting Hawaii, airs live 10:30 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday on the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Facebook page. Join Ryan Kalei Tsuji and Yunji de Nies this month for a conversation with guests. Click here to watch previous conversations and to view the rest of this month’s schedule.