PHOTOS: COVID-19 Vaccine Arrives at Tripler Army Medical Center

Governor David Ige was on hand when staff at the Tripler Army Medical Center opened the facility’s first shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine today.

Gov. Ige said the team at Tripler is “helping keep Hawaiʻi’s military ʻohana safe” by administering the vaccine as planned.

Gov. Ige announced, late Monday, the arrival of Hawaiʻi’s first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines. This initial delivery of 975 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to the Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu, marks an important milestone in the ongoing effort to combat coronavirus. Delivery of the remaining 3,900 doses of Hawaiʻi’s prepositioning order is expected on Wednesday.

Almost 45,000 additional doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are expected to arrive in Hawaiʻi this month. Pending approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, as many as 36,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine are expected by the end of the year.

Health care workers at high risk of exposure to COVID-19 and residents of long-term care facilities will be the first to receive the vaccine.

“It is gratifying to be able to offer the vaccine to health care workers who have sacrificed so much to protect all of us,” said Gov. Ige. “The vaccine provides another important layer of protection to safeguard our kūpuna and others in long-term care facilities.”

“The vaccine is a major tool in combating COVID-19 and it is critical we continue to use all the tools at our disposal,” said Health Director Dr. Libby Char. “We still do not know whether a person who has been vaccinated can carry the virus and infect others. We do not know how long the vaccine will confer immunity. Until these questions are answered, we must continue to protect ourselves and the people we love by wearing face masks and physical distancing,” Char added.

COVID-19 Vaccine Arrives at Tripler Army Medical Center. PC: Office of Governor David Ige.

COVID-19 Vaccine Arrives at Tripler Army Medical Center. PC: Office of Governor David Ige.

COVID-19 Vaccine Arrives at Tripler Army Medical Center. PC: Office of Governor David Ige.

COVID-19 Vaccine Arrives at Tripler Army Medical Center. PC: Office of Governor David Ige.

COVID-19 Vaccine Arrives at Tripler Army Medical Center. PC: Office of Governor David Ige.