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Minnesota Department of Health
July 8, 2021
Good afternoon,
Here are the COVID-19 vaccine provider updates for July 1 to July 8, 2021.
There have been reports of people attempting to get additional doses of either the same or a different COVID-19 vaccine product after being fully vaccinated. Do not give additional doses if someone is fully vaccinated. The COVID-19 Vaccine Provider Agreement states that you will follow the ACIP recommendations and there are no recommendations for boosters at this point. Check the vaccination status for people that are presenting for vaccination in MIIC or on the person’s COVID-19 vaccine record card.
For people seeking additional vaccine doses, share these messages with them:
- There are currently no recommendations for people who have already been fully vaccinated to receive another vaccine dose (often called a booster dose) of any brand of vaccine.
- There is emerging evidence that all of the available COVID-19 vaccines provide protection against COVID-19 variants, including the Delta variant.
- What will really have an impact on the variants is for people who have not yet been vaccinated to get vaccinated. Making sure that unvaccinated people get vaccinated is the best way to stop the spread of variants. Most of the severe illness is in people who are not vaccinated.
- Medical researchers continue to gather data on how long protection from the vaccines lasts and whether any additional doses of vaccine may be needed for people who are already fully vaccinated.
Minnesota is committed to providing equitable vaccination opportunities and accessible vaccination sites. We encourage you to visit Recommendations for Welcoming and Inclusive Vaccination Sites and read through the suggested strategies to make sure your vaccination site is inclusive to all.
Authentically engage with communities It is important to engage communities or people working with communities to plan for a vaccination event. Trust must be continually built and cultivated between communities, health care systems, and government.
Consider location for the vaccination event Plan for community vaccination sites in neighborhood-based locations with access to public transportation where priority populations live, work, and play.
Recommendations for staff and volunteers Site leads are responsible for leading vaccine event staff. Emphasize the importance of working as one team and the role of each person in creating a welcoming and inclusive environment.
Foster a welcoming environment for the community Creating privacy, respect, and "no barrier" environments are ways staff at the vaccination site can ensure a welcoming environment for anyone who comes in for a shot.
Ensure multilingual access for all Communication and messaging should be available in languages of the focus communities and be accessible in multiple formats. Try to ensure that guests are not profiled to determine if they will have language needs, but that language access support (as well as literacy support) is offered to all.
Provide disability access Community vaccination sites must be accessible and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant. Accessibility considerations include physical, cognitive, sensory, and technological.
This week we made an update in the Minnesota Immunization Information Connection (MIIC) to use geocoding to more precisely assign people to the county they live in. Some people who live near county borders may have previously been assigned to the wrong county due to home ZIP codes that overlap counties or other complicating factors. With this greater precision, some counties are seeing adjustments in their vaccination rates today. It does not affect Minnesota’s overall vaccination rate. View Minnesota COVID-19 vaccination data on State of Minnesota: Vaccine Data.
Currently, only the Pfizer 450-dose packs are available for ordering and vials will be shipped in a thermal shipping container that includes a Controlant temperature monitor. The extended refrigerator storage temperatures should decrease the need for dry ice. Therefore, there will be no dry ice replenishment for the 450-dose pack. If you are not using the thermal shipping container for a storage container, Pfizer asks that it and Controlant monitors be returned within 10 days.
CDC has been made aware of some spam emails about purchasing excess Pfizer vaccine from providers. Theses emails are suspicious and should not be replied to and need to be reported to one of the following:
Race and ethnicity data are very important to know who we are vaccinating and to uphold health equity in our pandemic response. Earlier this year, MDH began requiring providers to submit available race/ethnicity information into MIIC as part of their regular reporting for all patients who are getting vaccinated.
Thank you to all our partners who have quickly adapted and now routinely report race/ethnicity information when available! Your efforts have resulted in improved data completeness, as demonstrated by a decrease in the percentage of clients with ‘unknown’ or missing race or ethnicity information.
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Date
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Population
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Percent unknown race
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Percent unknown ethnicity
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January 2021
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All MIIC clients
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40.6%
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65.9%
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June 2021
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All MIIC clients
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13.2%
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50.7%
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June 2021
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Clients with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine
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8.2%
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30.7%
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Please reach out to the MIIC Help Desk at health.miichelp@state.mn.us if you would like to learn more about how your organization can report race and ethnicity information with your vaccine administration data to MIIC.
If you were unable to join us last week for the MIIC webinar on the Single Vaccine Assessment Report and would like to learn more about using this feature to assess and monitor COVID-19 immunization coverage rates for your organization, visit Immunization Assessment to view the user guide and accompanying training video.
Contact the MIIC Help Desk at health.miichelp@state.mn.us with any outstanding questions.
Transporting COVID-19 Vaccines (PDF) and Preparing COVID-19 Vaccines for Administration (PDF) have been updated and are available at COVID-19 Vaccine Providers.
If your patients or community want more information about the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccine, share this new video with them! Nathan Chomilo, MD, FAAP, and Adriana Galván chatted about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause, vaccine safety, and why vaccines are important for Minnesota communities.
Janssen vaccine on backorder
Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 vaccines are currently on backorder. Sites can continue to request Janssen vaccine doses in MIIC and MDH will help facilitate redistribution of doses from another registered COVID-19 provider as supply allows.
Extended shelf life
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) authorized an extension of the shelf life for the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) single-shot COVID-19 vaccine from 3 months to 4.5 months.
Providers with Janssen vaccine doses in inventory that have not expired can use their vaccine 45 days beyond the previous expiration dates. Vaccine providers should visit Expiry Checker: Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine Under Emergency Use Authorization to confirm the latest expiration dates of vaccine. If the lot number you enter displays the original expiration date, you will want to keep checking as information is still in the process of updating.
More information about the extended shelf life of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine is available on the Janssen website: Johnson & Johnson Statement on FDA Approval of Shelf Life Extension for Company’s COVID-19 Vaccine.
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