Hawai´i Returns Thousands of Vaccine Doses, Citing Decreased Demand

Hawai´i has a COVID-19 vaccine problem. Specifically, the state continues to be scheduled for more of the shots than it can use.

Demand for the COVID-19 vaccine continues to drop across the state as more people become vaccinated. As the numbers shift, the portion of those individuals who remain unvaccinated becomes populated more heavily by those hesitant or unwilling to receive the vaccine.

Hawai´i News Now (HNN) reported Thursday, June 3, that due to dwindling demand, the state has turned down more than 60% of its Pfizer vaccine allotment from the federal government this week.

Hilton Raethel, head of the Healthcare Association of Hawai´i, told HNN that none of the neighbor islands have placed vaccine orders at all over the previous two weeks, as administrators try to use the doses they already have on hand.

The State Department of Health is expected to roll out a vaccination incentive program in the coming days to try and drum up more demand for the shot. Nearly 1.55 million doses have been administered statewide to date.