by Donald Wood
Last updated: 8:45 AM ET, Fri February 19, 2021
Government officials in Hawaii are reportedly working on a new program that would allow travelers who received the COVID-19 vaccine to enter the state without quarantine.
According to Hawaii News Now, Hawaii Lieutenant Governor Josh Green said the system-dubbed the Vaccine Passport-is expected to be applied to vaccinated essential workers when it is tentatively scheduled to launch on May 1.
Green said the inter-island program could begin as soon as March 1 and require all travelers who receive the coronavirus vaccine to have an electronic code used to verify their status. The Lieutenant Governor also said he hopes the system expands to mainland travel by May 1.
"General Hara will be able to flip the switch and open that up and make that our policy as soon as we have some of the infrastructure in place," Green said. "We're hopeful that April 1 for all of our state individuals any citizen that has been vaccinated plus two weeks to fly inter-island."
"This is the way we restore our economy very quickly," Green continued. "We would likely see a huge uptick in visitors by say the fall this way."
Hawaiian officials said they hope to have more than 400,000 residents fully vaccinated by the potential start date of the program. As a result, Green believes daily visitors to the state could reach about 22,000 by the fall.
"I think that's the right time table and then international travel sometime thereafter because we don't want to let strains into our society," Green said.
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