LIHU‘E — Karen Samiano feels like there’s been too much friction surrounding COVID-19 vaccinations.
“It’s causing division between families and coworkers,” Samiano said Monday morning.
Last week, Gov. David Ige, joined by neighbor island mayors, announced the decision to require COVID-19 vaccines for state and county employees. For workers who seek medical or religious exemptions, they will be subject to regular COVID-19 testing.
Samiano works for the state, so she’s directly impacted by this decision.
“It’s our right to be vaccinated or choose not to,” Samiano said. “I believe in vaccination, but I really feel like I shouldn’t get vaccinated.”
But Samiano wanted to make something clear, she’s not just concerned about herself, she’s worried about the kids, too.
While public schools kicked off last week without requirements for students to have COVID-19 vaccinations, the Hawai‘i Department of Education announced the delay of fall organized sports until Sept. 24, and the requirement for student-athletes and adults working in athletics to be vaccinated.
Samiano wasn’t alone Monday. About 75 people were gathered around 11 a.m., at the intersection of Hardy and Eiwa streets in Lihu‘e, many protesting vaccinations, testing for COVID-19 in workplace settings, mask mandates and vaccine requirements.
Levana Lomma, CEO of For Our Rights, stood on the crosswalk Monday held a megaphone as cars honked in support passing by.
“It’s really just unacceptable,” Lomma said. “We’re not being given informed consent. You know, we don’t know exactly what is in this thing. We have not been provided with the full risks and liabilities. … On top of that, the testing is coercive. It’s a tactic. It’s not right for people to be forced to do something that is invasive to their body.”
For Our Rights, which has been hosting similar sit-ins and rallies since the pandemic began, organized with parent groups as well as county and state groups for Monday’s protest.
Some of the protesters voiced concerns that vaccination requirements will lead to a slippery slope.
“My body, my choice,” Darlyne McLeod said. “It’s not a choice if you can’t work (or) you can’t send your kids to school. You can’t travel anywhere, we’re on an island. I can’t go anywhere by boat, that’s not practical. So mandates are not really suggestions if you don’t have a viable alternative. Paying for PCR tests every two days or two weeks is not a real option.”
Kaua‘i County Councilmember Billy DeCosta stopped by the Monday protest to listen to constituents.
“The conversation with county leaders, whether council or Mayor (Derek Kawakami) has been to support our people,” DeCosta said. “Kaua‘i County leaders have the best interest of its people.”
DeCosta said that he wants to see more discussion at the county level to figure out vaccinations amongst county workers and student-athletes as opposed to state decisions coming down.
“I just want our people, vaccinated and unvaccinated, to come together and talk story,” DeCosta said.
This story was updated for clarity.
These people are paddling in the wrong direction and willing to throw your keiki overboard for misguided conspiracy theories political gain. This is the third school year disrupted by this public health crisis. Covid-19 is a serious blood clotting disease that impacts every organ of the body. Can you even imagine such a response to TB, polio or measles? Why risk even one child’s life? Absolutely crazy selfish!!!
If you don’t want to take the vaccine, then fine, your choice.
This issue is that many of these people not getting the vaccine, will get COVID, and then depend on the hospitals and taxpayers to pay the medical bill.
“I won’t get the vaccine”…….fine, then you make sure you have your own insurance and the word “Medicaid” is never uttered because you will pay thousands for your hospital visit out of your own pocket. I’ll hold my breath, while I pay endless increases in taxes for poor choices and no accountability. Stop the madness!
I concur… but at least now we have proof of who are the under educated people who were apparently public Hawai’i schooled or worse, privileged and entitled transplants who all believe…
IT COULD NEVER HAPPEN TO ME.
Well, guess again!!!! The UNVACCINATED are killing themselves and others….
Long term effects of the so-called vaccines are unknown.
Children have a zero percent chance of dying from Covid.
It is unlawful to force anyone into a drug test.
Treatments are available.
Stop the insanity!
1. Vaccines prevent the short term side effects of covid, which is death.
2. Not close to true. Google it. Look at medical records, not facebook.
3. Also not true. Public and private institutions drug test for illicit drugs all the time.
4. Treatments for easing your pain as you die do exist.
5. Agree, stop the insanity, get a shot.
Totally agree with Can, it’s time to stop relying on people who make a profit off the anti-vax movement. Like Dick Farrel who was a vociferous critic of Dr Anthony Fauci and urged people not to get vaccinated. He’s dead from covid and that ain’t fake news.
The leader of this group has a criminal record for fraud. And she believes in chemtrails. She’s harming our community.
So does their leader in Florida! Did you ever imagine that you would see this many ignorant and willfully negligent people disregarding science and common sense and endangering their children and neighbors even after 18 months of hardship and hundreds of thousands of deaths still thinking like they do. Please publish more of their photos so I know who to avoid at all costs!
How can people who believe in invisible viruses not believe in visible chemtrails? Of course there aren’t chemtrails here in Kaua`i, only contrails, so maybe that is the reason. But go to the mainland of any continent and you see them. BTW, I also believe in viruses.
Anyway, whether or not somebody believes in chemtrails or not is not a reason to violate their constitutional guaranteed civil liberties, also guaranteed by the Nurmberg code. There beliefs are irrelevant when rights and liberties are concerned. That is called a strawman fallacy.
I wholeheartedly agree. Stop protesting and arguing about your rights being violated. Your kids are already required to have proof of other vaccinations to attend public school. You already have to have a driver’s license? Can you be stopped by enforcement for a breathalyzer test? Have you ever had your ID checked for verification of age? How about overseas travel when the country you want to visit requires a whole list of things besides a passport before you are allowed to visit there – have you ever **done** this?
You are not being **required** to be vaccinated; you are being excluded from certain activities (that are not in the Bill of Rights) unless you HAVE been vaccinated.
Would you stop ‘protesting’ when PCR tests are free? If you or your kids become victims of COVID 19 you will have been infected by some other human. Will you then expect medical treatment to be available to you without ANY precautions to protect either yourself or those trying to keep you alive … or do they all have the **right** to refuse to provide care to you?
Guess us Trumpers aren’t as mighty and big as we once thought. This country has been taken over by Libs and we just handed it to them thinking the rest of us were being “Strong in Silence” but we weren’t…. we weren’t being loud enough.
Your boy Trump has taken credit for the vaccine. He initiated project warp speed. No need to make it political, the virus doesn’t care if you wear a red hat.
Only an Idiot actually believes the Virus or any result of the virus outbreak is Trumps fault. Move along.
Fine, don’t take the vaccine, but if/when you come with the Covid-19 please don’t contaminate the Island even more by going to the hospital. Stay home and ride it out with your loved ones. And here’s to wishing you a heathy recovery.
You don’t come with a COVID-19. The mRNA technology is a vaccine that is spiked with the SARS-Co2 to inject this into your blood. Your immune system must learn to fight against it. COVID-19 is a respiratory disease. Death if not treated.
Actually it has around a 99% survival rate, or more depending on your age. Most people are guaranteed to survive fine without any complications. It has roughly the same survival rate as the vaccines (96%)….
You can’t fix stupid.
Why is this idiocy worthy of a story?
I agree. I think this is the second time TGI has given this whacko and those you follow the same conspiracy theories space in their paper just in the last month. Why? Giving air to all the misinformation about covid etc. without any disclaimers that what you’re reading has been discredited 100 times is just bad journalism. I think TGI needs a new editorial staff.
I agree, I think whoever fields these stories must be right in there with them or have orders from above.
I just don’t get it…
Do these people not see the dramatic rise in cases literally EVERYWHERE?!! Including Hawaii. They want to “unmask keiki”…??!! Absolutely unbelievable.
And, to Levana Lomma, CEO of For Our Rights, spewing false and misleading rhetoric: you can go to CDC.gov and see a list of full ingredients for each vaccine, as well as lists of side-effects, both common and rare.
Vaccine mandates are not new, and as a matter of fact, is upheld by the SUPREME COURT, in accordance with the CONSTITUTION (look up Jacobson v. Massachusetts).
Thousands of doctors and scientists around the world urging masking and vaccinations and people, what…? Don’t believe them?!! Think they know better than DOCTORS?!! My goodness, the utter stupidity.
Good luck with that Councilmember DeCosta. Trying to rationalize with people who are fundamentally irrational is an exercise in futility.
“None”, when you call someone out like you did Councilman DeCosta, write your real name, scared?
Billy, Schools falls under the State, not County.
People’s excuses for not getting vaccinated, other than medical conditions are ridiculous at this point. “I don’t know whats in them.” Google it. If clinical trials and soon to be FDA approvals are not enough, the fact that the vaccine is safer than contracting covid should be enough. The slow adoption of the vaccine is what is driving the variants. If we vaccinate, we can return to normal life. For those using the “my body, my choice” argument, I am wondering if that applies to abortion as well, or just convenient excuse in this case. For those who listen to auntie or friend of a friend on Facebook, rather than scientists who dedicated their whole lives to this profession and saving lives, that is downright silly. And no, Bill Gates isn’t putting a microchip in you. If you believe that, you are putting far other dangerous things in your body. We don’t have polio because you have been vaccinated. Yes, the vaccine was created at an accelerated rate, because we needed it that fast. Science works faster now with modern technology and proper funding, i.e. project warp speed. You Trumpsters should be the ones proud of that achievement, not fighting it. Yes, it should be a choice whether to take the vaccine or not. Just like its a choice to not be selfish and care for your fellow human. It’s a choice to love thy neighbor. It’s a choice to nip this covid bullshit in the bud. Or we can continue to make it political, stomp our feet and prolong the duration of this horrible pandemic, and bring forth more death and financial ruin because a few are stubborn, malinformed, lazy or flat out selfish. Natural selection may in time take care of that set of people, unfortunately taking the elderly and our children with them. Spread aloha, not covid. Please get vaccinated. Mahalo.
“Can”, they have a choice, take the vaccine or pay for a COVID test every week and the cost of the test should not be passed unto the employer (state, private, etc….)
Just like flying out of here, take the vaccine or take a COVID test, at your expense, you have a CHOICE!!!!
So stop talking about you folks don’t have a choice!!!!
If ignorance is bliss, these folks must be ecstatic.
Did Levanna Lomma really “yield” a megaphone?
Masks? Virus enter your Body through your Eyes ! That’s why they have medications that put the Drugs into your eyes with EyeDrops !
So why not wear masks that include Goggles?
Why not? Because it is ridiculous !
But really, at face value the masks are ridiculous too?
Ask a smoker to lift their mask and take a big puff off their cigarette, then have them lower their mask and then have them exhale the smoke. Does the smoke escape the mask, well so does the Covid-19 Virus and the Delta mutated variant.
3 people on Kaua’i are hospitalized out of 70,000 population, plus large numbers of tourists on island, and people are freaking out like it was the end of the world. We have a wonderful Mayor, but he has zero health care training, and listens to doctors with little to no training Health or nutrient that strengthen our bodies.
The FDA says the jabs and stabs are not even vaccines, but are experimental Gene Therapy, which we do not even know what these therapies will do to our Genes and then to our bodies, making the future of our bodies unknown. Experimenting with your Genes, risky, risky, risky ! Who cares, well pro vaxers do not, they trust these scientists that ignore sane science.
People who contract Covid or Delta over the next 2 weeks after exposure and infection (why 2weeks? the cause that is how long the Quarantine is, 2 weeks, to allow the Immune Process to do it’s thing, and that is to make you immune, that is, protected from the same viruses). And that 2 week immune response besides giving you immunity, it makes you non-contagious, and makes you a part of Herd Imunity, which causes the viruses to fade away.
Immunity? Well, just like natural immunity without prescription drugs or vaccines, NATURAL immunity against Measles, Mumps, and Chicken Pox, is for a lifetime. It’s the same for the Covid and Delta viruses, immunity for a lifetime.
It is well known that vaccinated people are getting infected with Covid and Delta, and as well are spreading viruses to others, proof the vaccines do not work.
Who’s at risk for serious illness or death? We know that includes people under current long term medical care, who have preventable, but can naturally get well from with proper drugless Health Care, but sadly have multiple decades-long diseases and taking long term decades-long toxic prescription drugs.
These people at high risk are the people with pre-existing conditions, or co-morbidities, whose immune systems are so overburdened with prescription drugs and other medications, along with poor choice in food and drink with their diet and sedentary lifestyle; that when a virus that causes no symptoms in others, but infects their sick bodies, especially if they are further poisoned with prescription drug and burdened on their immune system, that they die even while under almighty ineffective medical care.
Medical Care has proven that it has no actual control over these viruses, but has in fact lost control of this Pandemic. Obviously prescripción drugs and vaccines do not help, other than wishful thinking.
Individual people’s immune systems have proven they are capable of defeating these viruses, by testing positive and having no symptoms, or only mild symptoms, and naturally becoming self immune and non contagious and part of necessary herd immunity.
Medical doctors’ eduction is sorely lacking as to immunology, and vaccines, so they are not experts in dealing with these viruses, and the futile use of vaccines and masks. Medical education only includes some few hours in the field of immunology and vaccine, and no training in Diet, Nutrition, and Healthy Lifestyle.
Physicians are teachers, but where are they? We need physicians educated in Health to teach America about Health instead of selling prescription drugs to fight disease symptoms, while ignoring Health.
We humans are all Vertebrates, Our Creator has given all vertebrates successfully functioning immune systems, and have had those immune systems successfully eliminating disease viruses for over 550 Million years.
All fish, birds, 4 legged animals, reptiles, primates and monkeys, people, and even giraffes and geckos are all vertebrates, and have immune systems similar or identical to ours. Other than pets, do the other 50,000 species of vertebrates on earth need prescription drugs and vaccines?
Do we trust our Creator, or do we trust politicians and their pseudo scientists, increasing the toxicity of virus and germ warfare, making ineffective jabs and stabs that are not vaccines, and burdening civilization with more toxic prescription drugs than have ever been known to mankind.
WELL SAID FELIPE !!!
Filipe, do a test for me, go to a large mirror and stand a foot away with no mask , are you ready, now sneeze. Ok now put a mask on and do the same thing. Did you notice a difference? Large particles of spit carry more of everything, good try with the smoke though.
Virus particles are not visible and easily pass through a cloth mask. Your analogy is Kindergarten logic and doesn’t work.
So if I spit in your mouth you won’t get the virus? What I am saying is there is virus in the spit particle’s, you are at the very least cutting a small percentage. I learned that in kindergarten.
Jamie, virus are infinitesly smaller than sneeze spray…But apologies, my spell check disrupted some the points i was making.
Love is the answer! Fear is the enemy! Stop the hate on both sides. That’s the plan, divide and conquer! Don’t tell anyone what to do with their health period…
Extremely well stated Felipe M.
But, you may as well be attempting to communicate with a stone wall. If your not saying what THEY want to hear then your wrong. I learned long ago; don’t waste time and breath trying to talk with the Left, it only results in an argumentative confrontation. Once again, very well stated, but the Stone Wall isn’t going to hear you.
“It is well known that vaccinated people are getting infected with Covid and Delta, and as well are spreading viruses to others, proof the vaccines do not work.”
You are part of the problem Felipe. Vaccinated people getting infected is statistically and dramatically lower than those not vaccinated. Of the hospitalized people in Hawaii (and the US) due to covid, an overwhelming majority are non-vaxers like yourself. Look at the facts. The people that developed these vaccines to save your life are real scientists, and the vaccines are literally on track to be FDA approved. And your mask point is down right ignorant. Your post is a perfect example how misinformation spreads like the virus itself, because of course people don’t want to wear masks or get a shot. Nobody does. “WELL SAID FELIPE!” But for the betterment of mankind and return to normal it is necessary. It’s a choice. A choice not to be selfish.
First of all, thank you Levona for trying your best to protect our keiki from tyrrany and medical abuse. Thank you to the rest of you standing up for our rights. My question to all my fellow native Hawaiians is Do you really trust a government that illegally overthrew your peopland e have continuously genocide our people and are still genocide our people. Do you truly TRUST this government that stole our lands and continuously killed our people. . I DO NOT put my trust in the same government that has killed my people. Hawaii is being brainwashed put pure fear and propaganda to inject a poison into their DNA that will alter their DNA forever in an experimental trial that is STILL NOT Approved by the FDA… the fear mongering media plays nothing but clips nonstop about covid 19 24/7 which is pure brainwashing… media is run by hellywood… put the television (tell-lies-visio) in the trash pick up a book go in nature turn off fake CNN use your intution use your brain something they you don’t want you to use… is your own intuition our souls know the truth….they say the mark of the beast will come in disguise they say people will line up by the millions to take the sign of the beast willingly they say the devil is tricky… please stand up against the evils who are at the real agenda of this vaccine in 2 years we will see horrific side effects and deaths from thrse vial viles a true native Hawaiians speaking from the heart and soul please don’t get the shot my Hawaiians
Please base your point on actual facts and not just feeling. FYI I totally agree the Man has screwed all the Natives.
The comments here are so sickening. You all are so brainwashed and only
believe what your rulers allow you to. Simple fact here , look it up. All the major media outlets have agreed with the government to not report on negative side effects or death from vaccine. Which are ample. Kids don’t need masks or vaccines. Just school and sunlight. You are all living in such fear that you have rallied to give up all our freedom and now voraciously defend our destruction of free society. Way to go Sheepeople ! This vaccine and virus is a calculated sham.
Talk about vodoo, can you give some reliable source?, please not CNN, Newsmax, MSNBC or some guy hiding in a basement. And to correct the guy from Iceland said his quote was taken totally out of context. Good article in the Guardian.
little babies throwing tantrum and wanting attention! “Poor Babies!” Come mommy love.
Is your CEO leader a doctor/scientist?
Follow the money it’s always there. Buy my health plan/supplements for 99.95 a week and I will keep you from getting the vaccine and covid. It’s all you really need. Don’t trust the educated people they are communists.
Yeah, education bad, ignorance good. You good! Ignorance Good!
Enough with the derisive vaccinated vs. unvaccinated. In the end it will make NO difference which you are.
From a friend in Iceland:
“It was looking as if Iceland, one of the world’s most heavily vaccinated countries, might retreat into the cycle of lockdowns and restrictions of 2020.
It’s not impossible that that could still happen.
But there was an interesting development over the weekend.
As Iceland had a day whose U.S. equivalent would have been 100,000 new cases, state epidemiologist Þórólfur Guðnason is now throwing up his hands.
He says he is disappointed that vaccination has not brought about herd immunity, and that the only approach now is to protect vulnerable groups and allow the virus to move through society.
“We really can not do anything else,” he says.
“We need to try to vaccinate and better protect those who are vulnerable, but let us tolerate the infection,” he adds. “We need to somehow navigate this way, and we are now in this, not to get too many serious illnesses so that the hospital system does not collapse, but still try to achieve this herd immunity by letting the virus somehow run.”
In the UK, scientists are now voicing a similar pessimism about herd immunity brought about by vaccines.
According to The Telegraph, “The delta variant has wrecked any chance of herd immunity, a panel of experts including the head of the Oxford vaccine team said as they called for an end to mass testing so Britain can start to live with Covid.
“Scientists,” the paper continued, “said it was time to accept that there was no way of stopping the virus spreading through the entire population, and monitoring people with mild symptoms was no longer helpful.
“Prof. Andrew Pollard, who led the Oxford vaccine team, said it was clear that the delta variant can infect people who have been vaccinated, which made herd immunity impossible to reach even with high vaccine uptake.”
“We don’t have anything that will stop transmission,” said Pollard, “so I think we are in a situation where herd immunity is not a possibility and I suspect the virus will throw up a new variant that is even better at infecting vaccinated individuals.”
Moreover, says the Telegraph, “Public Health England has shown that when vaccinated people catch the virus they have a similar viral load to unvaccinated individuals and may be as infectious.”
Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia and an expert in infectious diseases, added further that the obsession with “cases” needed to be abandoned: “We need to start moving away from just reporting infections, or just reporting positive cases admitted to hospital, to actually start reporting the number of people who are ill because of Covid. Otherwise we are going to be frightening ourselves with very high numbers that actually don’t translate into disease burden.”
What this means for government policy remains to be seen. But since the worst of the totalitarianism has occurred under regimes seeking “zero COVID,” and these scientists appear to believe such a thing is ridiculous, maybe it’s good news.”
So give it a rest and accept the inevitable truth…the virus will do what ALL viruses do–spread throughout the population. And, this is the best thing that can happen. Those of you who are obese, have T-2 diabetes, heart and pulmonary issues etc. take good precaution…but leave the rest of us to live our lives as we see fit.
RG DeSoto
RG Desoto
If it were only this simple, but our elected officials and The Media appear to thrive on increasing hysteria and fear by classifying every death as being COVID related because it’s more profitable…. its kinda sad when you stop to really think about it.
Mayor Kawakami is asking for help from everyone, but antivaxxers are the worst troublemakers, they keep spreading lies and making people scared of taking vaccine. So now, the antivaxxers are getting covid really bad according to the all the news everywhere. Antivaxxers are the virus spreaders. you know who they are…the ones that refuse to wear a mask, or they wear the mask below the nose and chin after they walk in the stores, they fight in airplanes, they gather in big groups without masks and tell each other no need mask. They wanna play with fire they gonna get burn and then they gonna cry out “help me help me” “I should have taken the vaccine!” “I should have kept my mask on!”
So the moral of this story is: health is priceless, no scared wearing a mask, washing your hands, keep your distance, and most especially no scared taking a vaccine that will save your life and keep you breathing.
Better to be safe than sorry and regretting it! (that’s what an antivaxxer said before he died from covid delta variant)
If everyone would actually read the CDC and HIDOH statistics for hospitalization and death from COVID, and compare it to flu statistics in 2019, there would be nothing to argue about. People seem to have forgotten there was life and disease before COVID, managed without oppressive government intervention. But please, let us continue this argument centered on freedom v. fear. Felipe M and RG Soto made the best points of all. Thank goodness for you and for taking the time to post. Lastly, thank goodness for Levana Lomma’s tenacity. She’s out there, all the time, saying what a lot of people are thinking but they’re too afraid to do anything for fear of losing their job or causing a social rift.
Over the past two weeks, new cases of COVID-19 are up 118 percent in the United States, especially among those who had not been vaccinated prior to being infected. Deaths from the disease are up 101 percent and now top 500 per day. While thousands of so-called breakthrough infections have been reported in people already vaccinated, the percentage of those hospitalized or killed is dramatically reduced among vaccinated people. ITS PRETTY CLEAR PEOPLE…
You can’t talk story with crazy. But we have to learn to live with them and can learn to accept them and let them be them. There will always be irrational, defensive, crazy people in any community, no matter what the issues. Trying to control them is futile, you can only have change your own behavior. I’ve learned to protect myself from them and ignore them.
Easy fix, all those that do not want the vaccine, put their names in a data base, when they get sick, they forfeit a room and ventilator
Joe Public. Your evil knows no bounds. Your hate knows no love. Your discrimination knows no compassion. Rotten to the core is an under statement.
one comin thread here from the pro gov-vaccine is I am smart and you are stupid.So I am sure this does not encourage more to take the vaccine as most people will take issue with someone attacking them.Its called self defense ,so wise up and use a different approach