The vaccine clinic is open weekly on Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. at Maui Memorial Medical Center.

WAILUKU — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently endorsed the use of bivalent COVID-19 boosters from Pfizer-BioNTech for people ages 12 years and older and from Moderna for people ages 18 years and older.

Effective immediately, the Maui Health vaccine clinic at Maui Memorial Medical Center.will offer only the original monovalent mRNA COVID-19 as a booster for children ages five through 11. Any existing booster dose appointments for those 12 and older will be rescheduled as soon as the new bivalent booster is available on Maui. Additionally, Maui Health will continue to administer all primary, secondary, and third doses to individuals six months of age and older. The CDC continues to recommend Pfizer’s monovalent boosters for children ages five through 11, and appointments and walk-ins for individuals in that age group are still being accepted at Maui Health’s vaccine clinic.

The Hawaii State Department of Health (DOH) has placed an initial order for the “updated boosters” and expects arrival within a few days. Maui Health’s vaccine clinic will administer the updated (bivalent) booster as soon as they are received.

The bivalent vaccines, which officials are now referring to as “updated boosters,” are reformulated to protect against both the original COVID-19 strain and the most recent Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, the latter of which is dominant across the U.S. and Hawaii, with both strains accounting for 95 percent of all COVID-19 cases in Hawaii now.

“The research has shown the new bivalent vaccines to be highly effective against the very contagious Omicron variants we have been experiencing on Maui,” said Mike Rembis, CEO of Maui Health. “It is important that all who are eligible receive an updated booster as soon as they become available on Maui, and our vaccine clinic will continue to be an important partner in keeping our community healthy by offering these boosters.”

Per the FDA:

Individuals 12 years of age and older are eligible for a single booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent if it has been at least two months since they have completed primary vaccination or have received the most recent booster dose with any authorized or approved monovalent COVID-19 vaccine.

Individuals 18 years of age and older are eligible for a single booster dose of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent if it has been at least two months since they have completed primary vaccination or have received the most recent booster dose with any authorized or approved monovalent COVID-19 vaccine.

Maui Health opened its community vaccine clinic in December 2020 and has since administered nearly 86,000 vaccines.

For the most up-to-date information, visit mauihealth.org/covidvaccine.