Lt. Gov. Josh Green says residents over 70 will likely have access to vaccines by March 15

Lt. Gov. Josh Green said he expects the state to open vaccines to residents over 70-years old by March 15, and to open to those over 65 just a few weeks after that. “We only have 146,000 individuals statewide that are age 65-74, so we’ll aggressively move through those numbers. I know it can’t come soon enough for people, but now it’s pretty soon,” Green said this morning on Spotlight Hawaii. The state is set to receive over 55,000 vaccine doses this week, a significant increase from weeks past, and includes 11,000 doses of the newly approved Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Dr. Green recommends that residents accept whatever vaccine is available, but also said that patients will have a choice of which vaccine to get. “If you’re under 50, you’re overall healthy, in my opinion Johnson and Johnson is a perfect shot for you,” he said. Green, who is also leading the Safe Travels program, said that he supports allowing a vaccine passport for transcontinental travel, beginning May 1. That would allow for those with verified vaccines to be able to travel to the state without COVID-19 testing or mandatory quarantine. “We have to move forward and we know that we did the right things to keep people alive, but we also have to do the right things to keep our economy alive, and that’s where I’m headed,” he explained. When it comes to inter island travel, Green said he hopes for all restrictions to be lifted by next month. “My personal recommendation is that we get to that point on or before April 1, where we have no requirements for testing between the neighbor islands because we are safe and we’ve vaccinated so many of our people,” he said.