First Doses of J&J Vaccine to Arrive in Hawai’i This Week

Hawai’i will receive its first doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine within the next few days.

Just shy of 12,000 J&J doses will arrive to the state, to be split among all four counties proportionately. Now the third vaccine in circulation across the United States, the shot received emergency use authorization from the FDA over the weekend.

Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the Johnson & Johnson inoculation requires only one shot, not two. It is also easier to ship and store. Its drawbacks are a lower effectiveness rate against preventing illness entirely following COVID-19 exposure. However, studies have concluded the J&J vaccine is highly effective at preventing serious cases of coronavirus, especially those that result in hospitalization and/or death.

Johnson & Johnson said it hopes to ship out 20 million doses of the vaccine by the end of March, and 100 million doses by the end of the summer.

The Department of Health said in a statement Monday that it is anticipating the delivery of 67,280 doses of COVID-19 vaccines this week. This includes 28,080 doses of Pfizer vaccines, 27,300 doses of Moderna vaccines, and 11,900 doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

The first ever shipment Johnson & Johnson vaccines will not arrive today but is expected to arrive within the next few days.

The 67,280 doses the state expects to receive this week does not include an additional 10,380 doses the federal government is expected to ship directly to CVS/Longs this week as part of the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program.