Hawaii wants to introduce a vaccination certificate in the summer: Travel Weekly

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Tovin Lapan

Hawaii is preparing for a new phase of reopening tourism as officials announced partnerships with a trio of companies working to develop a vaccine passport that they can hopefully present by the summer to ease entry into the state of Aloha.

Encouraged by the CDC’s announcement earlier this month that it would be safe for people fully vaccinated against Covid-19 to travel, state officials said they are working to add a vaccine passport to the existing safe travel testing and screening program. However, they cautioned that several key issues need to be addressed before it can be implemented.

As part of the Hawaii Safe Travels program, anyone over the age of 5 entering the state, whether or not they have been vaccinated against Covid-19, must provide evidence of an approved, negative Covid-19 test carried out within 72 hours of his departure to obtain a waiver, a 10-day quarantine.

• Relatives: United, Hawaii uses CommonPass for test verification

While Hawaii was working on a vaccine passport system prior to the CDC’s announcement, Lt. Gov. Josh Green, the new federal policy is something the state is looking for and provides more momentum to extend Safe Travels to vaccinated travelers.

Hawaii is working with three different companies – Clear, CommonPass and First Vitals – to develop a system integrated with the Safe Travels program that also serves to verify vaccination cards. After the operation, travelers with proof of vaccination against Covid-19 could travel to Hawaii without testing or quarantine.

They hope to roll out the system for inter-island travel around May 1, and then expand it to travelers outside of the state a month or two later.

“It can be a game changer for Hawaii,” said Green. “We have already seen a huge surge in travel numbers. We have them [lowest] Covid-19 infection rates in the country and I think a lot of people decide it’s time to go to Hawaii. A vaccination record program will have a tremendous impact and I urge the governor and team to accept the program. We need to have this ready before the summer trip so that it is buttoned up for anyone interested in coming. “

Some hurdles ahead

In order to make vaccination records available to the public, there are a handful of logistical and technical hurdles to be overcome, including protecting user privacy and reliably collecting and storing vaccination cards, which are handled differently by each state.

“The technicians are working on it, and I expect they can crack the code to do this,” said Green. “I don’t expect much fraud. The penalties for forging a federal document will be very harsh, and I don’t expect many people to make this mistake. Our previous experience with Safe Travels has shown that very few people try to play this System.”

A couple of bicycles on the Ke Ala Hele Makalae Path along the east coast of Kauai.

A couple of bicycles on the Ke Ala Hele Makalae Path along the east coast of Kauai. Photo credit: HTA / Tor Johnson

Instead of running a race to the finish line, the three companies Hawaii has worked with are expected to work together to find solutions to the toughest problems and to integrate the new system into the existing Safe Travels program.

“We’ve had 2.2 million travelers since Safe Travels launched and 50,000 jobs restored, but it’s still an ongoing process,” said Green. “The world is not yet out of the Covid risk. We are continuing to vaccinate our residents here, but Hawaii won’t reach herd immunity until July 4th. It’s all interconnected, and we need to continue to be sure. Ask travelers to wear masks and social distance. “

Tourism industry is pushing for a quick rollout

The hospitality and tourism industries were quick to take up the new CDC guidelines and publicly urge the state to get their vaccination records up and running.

“I’ve been pushing for a vaccination record for some time,” said Mufi Hannemann, president and CEO of the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association. “The CDC’s most recent position gives a great boost to our desire to encourage safer travel to Hawaii.”

Hawaiian Airlines is advocating lifting testing and quarantine restrictions on inter-island travel, an airline spokesman said, and the company also supports a “healthy and risk-based approach” to exempting vaccinated individuals from quarantine. With Hawaii reporting the lowest rate of Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people of any 50 states, the airline’s leadership believes that inter-island travel is safe without restrictions, freeing screening resources and other personnel to travel outside of the state will.

The number of visitors to Hawaii has increased since January, but daily arrivals are still around half what they were before the pandemic.

“[A vaccine passport] will make a difference in terms of stimulating our economy to get people back into work as we continue to lead the unemployment rate with almost 70,000 people still unemployed, “said Hannemann, adding that the hotels are ready to greet more guests and ramp up operations.

Keith Vieira, former Starwood Hotels and Resorts executive and Honolulu hospitality consultant, welcomed any easing of restrictions.

The Kona coast on the Big Island of Hawaii.

The Kona coast on the Big Island of Hawaii.

“I was in Maui last weekend and the hotels I have been to are up 80% this week,” said Vieira. “There’s no doubt that Hawaii has strong demand. And if we make this easier and easier and have a vaccination record, we’ll recover much faster and get our community and staff back to work.”

Laura Lukasik, travel advisor and Hawaii specialist at Viking Travel outside of Chicago, said it was important to keep testing options available.

“In the long term, I think that making the guidelines easy to understand and offering variety will be the right way to go,” said Lukasik. “For some people, being able to just take their vaccine and not get tested might be motivating, but I know that others just don’t want the vaccine, even if it means they can’t travel.”

Green acknowledged that not everyone signs up for a vaccination and Hawaii needs to be flexible.

“We also want to respect those who do not want to be vaccinated and we will continue to have the Safe Travels testing program available to them,” he said.

Lukasik said she believes Hawaii’s advances in entry alternatives this summer could help accelerate a recovery in tourism while other destinations like Europe re-impose restrictions and remain closed to US travelers.

“People want to travel, and places that are in their comfort zone are attractive. Hawaii has the advantage of being a unique travel destination that is still in the United States, and having more ways to get there will only increase interest, ”said Lukasik. “Hawaii will come back with a vengeance.”

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