Months after Gov. David Ige set it as a milestone for lifting COVID-19 restrictions, and weeks after he rescinded that decision, 70% of the state’s population finally has been fully vaccinated against the virus.
Ige on June 4 said that he would end all travel restrictions, including the Safe Travels program, when the state’s fully vaccinated rate reached 70%.
Now, more than four months later, the state has finally inched across a finish line that no longer exists. Not only has the vaccination rate slowed precipitously, but because of a spike of cases driven by the highly contagious Delta variant in August and September, Ige has said that the 70% threshold no longer triggers the end of travel restrictions.
“First of all, hallelujah,” said Brooks Baehr, spokesman for the state Department of Health. “It doesn’t mean what it used to, but it’s still a milestone that the governor set for us.”
“But we’ve still got work to do,” Baehr went on, adding that on Thursday, there were 164 new cases statewide. “Some of those will be hospitalized, in all likelihood, and some of them might die.”
Hilo Medical Center spokeswoman Elena Cabatu said the rise of the Delta variant has made it clear that meaningful reductions to the spread will only be possible if the state sets and reaches higher benchmarks.
On the other hand, she noted that trying to rush the process accomplishes nothing.
“It’s shown that we cannot be impatient without our progress,” Cabatu said. “It’s not going to do much good if we get impatient or frustrated at our pace.”
The 30% who are unvaccinated amounts to about 428,000 people, Baehr said. Of those people, 207,000 are children who are currently ineligible for the vaccine. Another 117,000 are people who have completed a first dose of a vaccine, but have, for any number of reasons, not yet completed the second.
The remaining 104,000 are people who are eligible for the vaccine and have chosen not to receive any dose, Baehr said.
“There’s no question that people have legitimate concerns about the vaccine, but I think the proof is in the pudding,” Baehr said.
Baehr added that the delay in reaching the 70% benchmark — DOH Director Libby Char predicted in July that the state could reach the milestone by early September — was likely due to misinformation about vaccines. But on the other hand, Baehr said the single thing that seemed to convince people the most to take the vaccine was the effects of the Delta variant.
In late August, at the height of the Delta spike, there were more than 1,500 new COVID cases statewide in a single day.
“Fear is a tremendous motivator,” Baehr mused. “And I think it’s okay for fear to drive that decision.”
But with a new demographic expected to be eligible for vaccination soon — the Food and Drug Administration will hold a meeting Oct. 26 to consider authorizing the Pfizer vaccine for children between 5-11 years old — Baehr and Cabatu urged residents to continue looking out for their families.
“Circle back to your loved ones and make sure they’ve had their vaccines,” Cabatu said. “We’ve had a lot of loss already. We don’t want any more.”
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.