HIGH ALERT: Expiring Janssen Vaccine Information

This message was sent to AIM, FAB, Health Systems, INE, IAP, LHD Health Officers, LHD Medical Directors, MACI, MACI 2, PH Imms Leads, MCIR Region Contacts, COVID-19 Vaccine Providers, and Imms All Staff. I apologize for any duplications.

 

Good Afternoon Immunization Partners,

Several Janssen vaccine lots have an expiration date of today, 5/25/2021. However, it has come to our attention that Janssen’s guidance on expiration dates and dose administration differs from most routine administration guidance and is important to note:

According to the Janssen expiration date website and confirmed in contacting them directly, Janssen vaccine should not be administered on the date of expiration; Therefore in this example, Janssen vaccine with an expiration of 5/25/2021 should NOT be administered today. See below example:

This differs from routine vaccine expiration guidance which typically allows administration to continue through the end of the date on which it expires. Therefore, this distinction for Janssen vaccine guidance is important to be aware of and implement. We have also communicated with CDC about this atypical guidance from Janssen to provide awareness and help support more proactive guidance on this issue.

We’d also like to provide you the resource for CDC’s Clinical Considerations which addresses follow-up in case a dose is administered after expiration: Interim Clinical Considerations for Use of COVID-19 Vaccines | CDC

• Per CDC, if vaccine is administered after expiration or beyond-use-date “Contact the manufacturer for guidance. If the manufacturer provides information supporting that the dose should be repeated, the repeated dose may be given immediately (no minimum interval) in the opposite arm.”

Expired COVID-19 vaccine does NOT need to be returned to the manufacturer and must be disposed of properly and removed from your MCIR Outbreak inventory appropriately. We will follow-up with additional expiration guidance for more detailed support on inventory and disposal guidance for expiring COVID-19 vaccine.

Thank you,
The Immunization Nurse Education Team,
-Andrea, Heidi, Maria, Sarah, and Terri