Hospitals Now Offering COVID Vaccine to Kupuna

Big Island hospitals have begun scheduling appointments to vaccinate kupuna for COVID-19.

Since opening registration last week, Hilo Medical Center has signed up more than 1,500 kupuna to be inoculated, with more signing up every day.

“We are estimating administering about upwards of 1,000 doses per week, dependent on supply,” HMC officials reported.

Click here to register for an appointment at HMC.

HCC Palamanui nursing students (PC: Kona Community Hospital)

Nursing students from Hawai‘i Community College Palamanui are taking a frontline role and assisting Kona Community Hospital with its vaccine clinic.

KCH has been administering vaccines to eligible healthcare workers (including active community healthcare workers) for several weeks. On Wednesday, the hospital began scheduling appointments for those people who are 75 years of age and older.

“We had an overwhelming response from community members wanting to schedule an appointment, which caused a backlog of calls,” KCH officials stated. “We are smoothing out our processes from today’s ‘lessons learned.'”

The Hawai‘i Department of Health has established a call center for the general public and health providers regarding vaccinations. Dial 808-586-8332 to access the call center, which is open Monday through Friday from 7:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. More information can be found at https://hawaiicovid19.com/vaccine/. Additional questions can be emailed to doh.imb.vaxcc@doh.hawaii.gov.

Queen’s North Hawai‘i Community Hospital is also scheduling vaccinations for kupuna 75 years of age or older, as well as essential workers including first responders, corrections officers, emergency services dispatchers, critical transportation infrastructure workers (harbor and dock workers, public transportation, etc.), critical utilities (energy, water, etc.), teachers and childcare and educational support staff (childcare, early education, k‐12, post‐secondary), those staff essential for federal, state, and local government operations, and US Postal service employees.

Call QNHCH at 808-881-4668 to make an appointment. The QNHCH vaccination clinic is located on the QNHCH Waimea campus in the Annex building; appointments are available Monday-Friday.