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The state Department of Health on Saturday announced that 27,500 doses of COVID-19 vaccines tailored for infants and children under the age of 5 are expected to arrive “in the coming week.”
The news came soon after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday recommended vaccines from both Pfizer and Moderna for young children. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had issued emergency-use authorization for the vaccines on Friday.
Approximately 16,000 of the doses headed to Hawaii are from Pfizer and the rest are from Moderna, according to the Health Department.
About 80,000 children in Hawaii are newly eligible for the vaccine, said DOH spokesperson Brooks Baehr, and the Health Department is hoping to initially get about 30% of them vaccinated.
“That would be a percentage above what has been indicated across the country,” Baehr said. “The 30% is an initial goal; hopefully, we’ll surpass that.”
The vaccines will be distributed to hospitals, pediatricians’ offices and clinics on all islands, according to DOH. Pharmacies and community health centers will receive additional vaccines directly from manufacturers.
Vaccination locations will be listed on the vaccine page at hawaiicovid19.com once the doses arrive. Baehr said additional doses will be requested depending on demand.
The new Pfizer vaccine, specially made for children 6 months old through 4 years of age, will be administered in a three-shot series, with a three-week pause between the first and second shots, and the third shot given at least two months after the second. Each dose is one-tenth the dose of the Pfizer vaccine given to adults, according to DOH.
The new Moderna vaccine is for children 6 months old through 5 years of age. It will be administered in a two-shot series, with the second shot given at least four weeks after the first. Each dose is a quarter of the Moderna dose given to adults.
Health Director Dr. Elizabeth Char urged parents to take advantage of the new vaccines for young children.
“Vaccines continue to offer our best protection against COVID-19 and now keiki as young as six-months old can benefit from that same protection. Parents with questions about COVID-19 vaccines are encouraged to ask their healthcare providers for guidance,” Char said in a statement.
An April poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that less than 18% of parents nationwide were eager to get their children under age 5 vaccinated.
DOH data shows that 77.8% of Hawaii residents had completed vaccinations as of June 12, with 85% getting at least one dose, 40.9% getting their first booster and only 8.1% getting a second booster.
Of the 97,148 residents age 12 to 17, 80% had gotten at least one dose, according to the data, while 42% of the 118,640 Hawaii youngsters age 5 to 11 had gotten at least one dose.
Hawaii has led the country in its management of the pandemic, and new COVID-19 cases recently dipped to an average of under 1,000 per day, but hospitalizations are up and the CDC recently categorized all Hawaii counties as high-risk for the disease.
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