The state of Hawaii may soon require visitors to have received a booster shot to prove they are “fully vaccinated” and avoid five days of quarantine.
Currently, visitors to the islands must have received either two shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to be considered “fully vaccinated,” or must present a negative test prior to traveling, ABC News reported.
Governor David Ige told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser last week that the state’s “Safe Travels” program might soon consider “fully vaccinated” to include a booster shot as well, meaning that visitors who are vaccinated would still have to quarantine if they have not yet had the follow-up jab.
“We know that the community needs time to react to that, so we would have to provide at least two weeks for those who may not be up-to-date to go to have the opportunity to go and get vaccinated if they need to,” he said, as quoted by Hawaii News Now.
Ige also said he had been speaking with mayors and other local leaders about requiring proof of vaccination to enter restaurants and other public venues.
A spokeswoman for Ige’s office told ABC that including the booster shot in the definition of “fully vaccinated” for the safe travels program is still discussed and would not confirm any changes set to be made.
The program recently reduced the required quarantine time for unvaccinated visitors from 10 days to five as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated their guidance.
The quickly changing definition of “fully vaccinated” has left many travelers scrambling to keep up as new guidance for boosters causes confusion.
Austria and the Netherlands now require proof from visitors that they’ve received their boosters, and Croatia, Switzerland, and Greece have indicated they might consider the same requirement.
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