(BIVN) – In Hawaiʻi, only kūpuna who are 75 years of age and older are currently eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. However, the State says that will soon change.

Hawai‘i State Health Director Dr. Elizabeth Char announced on Friday that the state will soon open vaccinations to those 70 and older.

“We’re still in Phase 1b, and we’re not ready to go into Phase 1c yet. But soon, we’d like to welcome those 70 and older to get vaccinated. We know we still have kūpuna and frontline essential workers waiting to be vaccinated,” Dr. Char said in a media release. “We’ve been vaccinating kūpuna since about mid-January, and so we’d like to add in 70 and older to keep the uptake of vaccine really brisk.”

The Department of Health says it will announce when sites are prepared to accept registration for this new age group.

The State noted that vaccine availability continues to be impacted by weather-related delays. According to the health department:

27,700 doses of the Moderna vaccine originally expected the week of February 15 are delayed because of ice storms on the mainland. DOH is awaiting news on when shipments will resume and when Moderna will send the backlogged doses. The state anticipates receiving more than 50,000 doses for the week of February 22.

As of Friday, the State of Hawaiʻi said 287,315 cumulative doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered.