Same-day vaccinations now open

The Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. will now be accepting same-day vaccinations for COVID-19 at the Medical Care and Treatment Site at the upper parking level of the Commonwealth Health Center and at the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe.

This means those who want to be vaccinated can now register and be vaccinated on the same day. But first, they must register online at vaccinatecnmi.com or by calling (670) 682-7468 to reserve their spot instantly. It used to take several days before one can get a slot to be vaccinated.

CHCC is currently offering the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and the Moderna Inc. COVID-19 vaccine for those who are 16 years old and above, and the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine for the elderly population.

Both Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines require two shots to be considered complete. CHCC has already given the first shots to 22,019 people as of April 29 and has fully vaccinated 18,486 people. This means 49% of the CNMI is now fully vaccinated.

This also means that the CNMI is more than halfway to achieving the 80% target to achieve herd immunity. The CNMI is projected to reach the 80% herd immunity by mid-June, according to Gov. Ralph DLG Torres.

Her immunity is when a large enough number of a population is already vaccinated and thus providing some indirect protection to the unvaccinated ones.

According to Saipan Tribune archives, the CNMI is looking at mid-June as the “realistic” date to reopen its borders to tourists. Torres earlier disclosed that they are eyeing reopening either in May or June because they want to have at least 80% of the community already vaccinated against COVID-19.

Torres along with CHCC and the Governor’s COVID-19 Task Force said realistically mid-June is their target. Mid-May is also projected when the CNMI will reach 80% because they do have an airline that’s “anxious for the CNMI to reopen immediately.”

“We are looking into what is the herd immunity percentage by then. But June is most likely that we are looking at,” said Torres.

Torres said they have a task force under the Governor’s Economic Council of Advisers for air transportation and it has already received some feelers from some airlines in South Korea that they are now working on.