The CNMI\u2019s vaccination rates is slightly behind that of Guam, but ahead of other U.S. insular areas, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, or KFF, an American\u00a0non-profit\u00a0organization that focuses on health care\u00a0issues facing the nation, as well as U.S. role in global health policy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Citing the KFF analysis, Delegate Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (Ind-MP) shared in a Facebook post a report that says the CNMI\u2019s vaccination rate is slightly behind Guam but has progressed further than other U.S. insular areas. This includes Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough most insular areas initially got off to a strong start, they all now lag the rest of America in the percentage of the population fully vaccinated against COVID-19,\u201d said Sablan.<\/p>\n
In an interview with the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. chief executive officer Esther Mu\u00f1a, she said 66% of the CNMI\u2019s eligible population have already received their first dose. Except for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two inoculations.<\/p>\n
With U.S. President Joe Biden setting the goal of getting 70% of U.S. adults to receive at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by July 4, Mu\u00f1a said the CNMI should be able to achieve that by the end of next week.<\/p>\n
\u201cPresident Biden wants 70% of American adults to have their first dose by July 4th. We\u2019re way ahead of that [and] we expect to be way ahead of that by July 4th. We expect to meet 70% by the end of next week,\u201d said Mu\u00f1a. The Biden administration projects to see 160 million adults fully vaccinated by Independence Day.<\/p>\n
When asked if the CNMI will be able to achieve 85% herd immunity by mid-June\u2014just in time for a planned travel bubble to start\u2014 Mu\u00f1a said they hope to do so, but they need more people to get vaccinated. <\/p>\n
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, as of May 1, every U.S. territory, except for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, has fully vaccinated more than 30% of their eligible populations.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the media briefing last Friday, Mu\u00f1a reported that 57% of those eligible to be vaccinated in the CNMI have been fully vaccinated.<\/p>\n
Fully vaccinated persons:
\n-16-19 years old: 1,240
\n-20-29 years old: 3,319
\n-30-39 years old: 3,409
\n-40-49: 4,526
\n-50-59 years old: 5,463
\n-60-69 years old: 3,310
\n-70-79 years old: 967
\n-80+ years old: 208<\/p>\n
Quarantine procedures<\/strong><\/p>\n At the same media briefing, Mu\u00f1a said there is a way for officials to verify travelers vaccination cards who are coming from Guam to Saipan and from Saipan to Guam.<\/p>\n \u201cWe accept Guam\u2019s immunization record that has that seal right in the middle, and then for CNMI, we also have a vaccine record that\u2026has a seal and the name of CHCC stamped on the immunization record,\u201d said Mu\u00f1a.<\/p>\n To get this, request it via email at info@vaccinatecnmi.com or call (670) 682-7468. This will allow individuals to arrange for a pick-up in person or faxed\/emailed to the individual who signs the release form.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do encourage those traveling into the CNMI\u2014because one of the extra steps of allowing you to not quarantine\u2014that we verify your record, to make sure that you have been fully vaccinated at least two weeks from your last dose. \u2026Also we have to verify if wherever you\u2019re going to go home to, that those individuals in your household have been fully vaccinated,\u201d said Mu\u00f1a.<\/p>\n Mu\u00f1a said those who register ahead of time online will be tested on a rapid, on-arrival test. Mu\u00f1a advised that registration should be done three days before arrival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The CNMI\u2019s vaccination rates is slightly behind that of Guam, but ahead of other U.S….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":344943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-344926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}