Hawaii to release preliminary weekday COVID-19 vaccination amounts

To more accurately convey the number of COVID-19 vaccinations administered in Hawai’i, the Department of Health (DOH) is releasing a preliminary number in addition to the vetted and verified number issued every Wednesday.

This new preliminary number will be posted daily, Monday through Friday, by 8 a.m. on the DOH Disease Outbreak Control Division (DOCD website. The preliminary number will also be available by connecting with the DOH via Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

DOCD will continue to publish the vetted and verified number of vaccinations administered every Wednesday at 12 p.m. This vetted and verified number will include vaccinations administered through the previous Sunday at 11:59 p.m.  This 2 ½ day lag in reporting allows DOH to “clean and scrub” the data to ensure it is accurate. This vetted and verified number currently stands at 70,095.

The preliminary number released by DOH today is 94,003. This reflects the preliminary count through Thursday, January 21, 2021. Due to ongoing delays in reporting from vaccination sites, the actual number of vaccinations administered is likely higher than 94,003.

Here are four facts about vaccine allocation, distribution and administration that are important to keep in mind as you review vaccination data:

1. The number of vaccines that have been allocated to Hawai’i by the federal government will be higher than what has been administered in Hawaii. The Department of Health is responsible for an orderly, equitable distribution of the vaccines to each county statewide to ensure all Hawai’i residents 16 years and older have access to two doses of vaccine, starting first with healthcare professionals, residents and staff of long-term care facilities, seniors, and those designated as frontline essential workers.

2. All Points of Dispensing, or PODS, are scheduling vaccinations in advance to ensure orderly, safe clinics. This means vaccine doses cannot be administered the day they are received.

3. Vaccines for the second doses are not held or stored. They are shipped three to four weeks after the first doses are allocated. The federal government allocates second doses based on when first doses were allocated. These shipments are made directly to the hospitals or other sites in each county, based on their storage and handling capabilities.

4. There are nearly 50 registered partner entities administering vaccinations. Although they may be administering the vaccines as efficiently as possible, there is sometimes a delay by the administering entities in entering their data in the CDC’s Vaccine Administration Management System (VAMS). This results in the vetted vaccination number and the preliminary vaccination number being lower than the actual number of vaccinations administered.