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Minnesota Department of Health
September 10, 2021
Good afternoon,
Here are the COVID-19 vaccine provider updates for Sept. 3 to Sept. 10, 2021.
COVID-19 vaccine inventories have continued to grow since distribution of vaccine first began in December of 2020. Please remember to continue to carefully manage your COVID-19 vaccine inventory. We currently have ample on-hand COVID-19 vaccine supply across our enrolled provider sites. Wastage has remained low among Minnesota providers, with an overall rate of 2.2% wastage compared to 3.4% nationally. Keep checking expiration dates for your inventory and using vaccine with earlier dates first. Pay particular attention to Pfizer expiration dating due to the recently announced expiration extension. Review information about the Pfizer expiration extension in the Aug. 26 and Sept. 2 bulletins at COVID-19 Vaccine Provider Updates.
If your site has vaccine that is going to expire before you are able to use it, we ask that you complete the Smartsheet: COVID-19 Vaccine Available for Redistribution form so that vaccine can be redistributed to areas that are in need in order to reduce vaccine wastage.
User guide
Refer to our user guide when ordering COVID-19 vaccine in MIIC: Special Event Vaccine Request (PDF). This guide includes important notes along with step-by-step instructions for how to request COVID-19 doses and review orders.
Smartsheet tool
Use our Smartsheet tool, COVID-19 Vaccine Available for Redistribution (as mentioned above), to report excess inventory or request doses via redistribution. This is also a good option if you are interested in receiving doses in increments less than the minimum order amount.
Cadence
Providers can now expect Pfizer vaccine deliveries within 3-5 days of placing their orders in MIIC. Providers who order Moderna can still expect their vaccine deliveries within 2-3 days of placing their orders in MIIC.
On Thursday, Sept. 9, we added a box on the “Vaccines Administered” tab of the COVID-19 Vaccine Data dashboard to show how many third doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered as reported to the Minnesota Immunization Information Connection (MIIC). CDC now recommends that people with certain immunocompromising conditions who got two doses of an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer or Moderna) get an additional dose (third dose) of vaccine. Additional doses (or booster doses) are not recommended for any other population at this time.
While MIIC is able to show how many doses a person has received, it does not contain additional medical details that would allow us to confirm that all of the third doses administered truly went to immunocompromised people. A third dose is counted as a valid dose if it was given at least 28 days after a person’s second dose with an mRNA vaccine. We began counting these doses starting Aug. 13.
Providers can print client immunization records in MIIC to provide to patients upon request. MDH is currently receiving many MIIC record requests as people are being asked to show proof of vaccine at their place of employment or to engage in various activities. Please use this feature to support your patients. Review the user guidance for this MIIC functionality at Client Search and Printing Immunization Records (PDF). If you have any questions, please reach out the MIIC HelpDesk.
The MIIC team would like to extend a huge THANK YOU for your work on data quality in August (and over the past 10 months). This month, providers have cleaned thousands of erroneous doses. As a result, we can more confidently report Minnesota’s COVID vaccine data. We know this kind of work takes a lot of time, and you have a lot on your plates. We appreciate your efforts to keep MIIC data useful and reliable.
Want to find out answers to common COVID-19 vaccination questions quickly? Check out SmartFind COVID-19 Vaccine ChatBot at CDC: COVID-19 Vaccination (in the middle of the page). CDC has developed this new resource to help quickly connect people, including health care providers, to clear, consistent, and credible information about COVID-19 vaccines. The ChatBot offers 24-7 access to COVID-19 vaccine information on web-based devices (such as cell phones). Other features include answers to common COVID-19 vaccine questions that are authorized or recommended in the U.S. and links to additional COVID-19 vaccine resources.
Are you new to administering Pfizer vaccine or need a refresher? Pfizer will again be hosting training sessions to review information and answer questions about the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
Please click on the links below to join the sessions at the designated times. Each training below is the same content.
We have been working with a number of COVID-19 vaccine providers to use MIIC functionality to send text messages to their patients in need of doses to complete their series. The program can be geared towards immunocompromised patients in need of a third dose, those who have missed a second COVID-19 vaccine dose, or other criteria as recommended by your organization. Texts can be sent leading up to the recommended timeframe for a client, and/or after a client has missed their vaccine dose.
MDH is currently working with 12 organizations including six local public health entities and six health providers. To date, over 100,000 text messages have been sent to clients who were overdue for their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine, 30% of whom went on to complete the series. The MIIC team is currently looking to partner with providers who serve clients who live in high Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) ZIP codes.
This texting program does not require a lot of work on the part of the participating provider. If you are interested in partnering or would like some more information about this service, please contact the MIIC Help Desk.
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