Hawai‘i to vaccinate more kupuna

To continue the momentum now underway to vaccinate residents and caregivers of small residential care homes throughout the state, the Hawai‘i Department of Health is partnering with a number of pharmacies to conduct drive-thru vaccination events or in-home vaccinations especially for kupuna.

“This is another major step forward in the implementation of our state’s vaccination plan,” said Dr. Libby Char, director, Hawai‘i Department of Health. “With residents and staff of larger long-term care facilities such as assisted living communities now in progress, we’re now turning our attention to residential care homes and community care foster family homes.”

There are different types of care homes. The Department of Health’s Office of Health Care Assurance licenses and inspects more than 1,200 community care foster family homes, about 445 adult residential care homes, and nearly 50 developmental disabilities domiciliary homes. The residents of these care homes may be seniors or those with underlying health conditions. Residential care homes on neighbor islands have already begun vaccinations at drive-thru clinics, county clinics and with mobile services. Scheduling of in-home vaccinations for residential care homes began this week on O‘ahu.

The partnering pharmacies throughout the state include: ElixRx Pharmacy, 5 Minute Pharmacy, Foodland Pharmacy, KTA Pharmacy, Pharmacare Hawaii, The Queen’s Medical Center Pharmacy, and Times Pharmacy.

The care homes on O‘ahu have been divided by zip code and the pharmacies have been assigned to care homes to schedule vaccine appointments for their residents and caregiver staff members.

Licensed care home operators are being contacted directly by the Department of Health to schedule their in-home vaccinations, and those who have questions about vaccinations for themselves or their residents, may contact the DOH vaccination information line at (808) 586-8332.