Hawaii Travel Update: Booster Shot May Soon Be Required To Avoid Pre-Test Or Quarantine

The State of Hawaii may soon update its tourism policies to change the definition of fully vaccinated to include a booster shot.

The change would mean that a visitor would need to have received all three shots in order to be considered fully vaccinated and bypass quarantine without a pre-test.

While this change has been rumored for some time, its likelihood was confirmed last week when Governor David Ige addressed the situation as Hawaii has seen its daily case count rise from about a 100 per day in early December to nearly 5,000 per day in mid-January.

Speaking with reporters, Ige said his office is strongly considering the change, and if so, there will be plenty of lead time given to allow those with upcoming trips to comply.

“We know that the community needs time to react to that, so we would have to provide at least two weeks for those who may not be up to date to go to have the opportunity to go [sic] and get vaccinated if they need to,” Ige told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

As of now, those who do not meet the fully vaccinated requirements can still visit Hawaii by taking a pre-test (which, if negative, gives one the same freedom as vaccinated travelers) or quarantining for five days upon arrival.

We won’t know for sure until the new rules are officially announced, but it stands to reason that non-boosted and non-vaccinated people will still be able to visit by either taking a pre-test or submitting to a 5-day quarantine.

We’ll keep you updated as things develop. For now, you can read the latest up-to-date information on Safe Travels Hawaii.