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Minnesota Department of Health
September 30, 2021
Good afternoon,
Here are the COVID-19 vaccine provider updates for Sept. 27 to Sept. 30, 2021.
The provider guide and appendix A have been updated and are available at COVID-19 Vaccine Providers.
Summary of updates:
- Provider guide: added information on verifying patient data in MIIC (p. 11); updated booster dose content (p. 17)
- Appendix A: Pfizer-BioNTech: added booster dose recommendations (p. 5)
For public health purposes, people are still considered fully vaccinated two weeks after completion of their primary vaccine series (i.e., two-dose mRNA vaccine series or a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccine) This definition applies to all people, including those who are eligible to receive an additional dose as recommended for moderate to severely immunocompromised people, and those who are eligible to receive a booster dose. People who have a contraindication to vaccination or who otherwise do not complete a vaccination series are not considered fully vaccinated.
It’s important to remember that people who have been fully vaccinated with any of the authorized COVID-19 vaccines continue to have good protection against severe disease, hospitalization, and death, even against the Delta variant.
CDC’s Interim Clinical Considerations for Use of COVID-19 Vaccines was updated on Sept. 27, 2021, with a section on Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine booster dose recommendations. As a reminder, no authorizations or recommendations on a booster dose have been made for those who received Moderna or Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccine for their primary series. It is important to adhere to current recommendations; use of these products outside of what has been approved and authorized by FDA (often referred to as “off-label use”) is not recommended. Off-label use is a violation the CDC COVID-19 vaccine provider agreement and could expose providers to many risks.
If you missed it, please refer to our earlier communication sent on Sept. 24, for a detailed summary of the interim recommendations for Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine booster doses at COVID-19 Vaccine Provider Updates.
If you are receiving requests to update MIIC record/demographic information so people can access their or their children’s MIIC record through Docket, let people know they can fill out the MIIC Immunization Record Update Request form at Find My Immunization Record.
Don’t miss opportunities to vaccinate for COVID-19 and/or flu! CDC’s Interim Clinical Considerations for Use of COVID-19 Vaccines supports administering COVID-19 vaccine with other vaccines, including flu.
COVID-19 vaccines may be administered without regard to timing of other vaccines. This includes simultaneous administration of COVID-19 vaccine and other vaccines (e.g., flu vaccine) on the same day. When deciding whether to administer other vaccine(s) with COVID-19 vaccine, vaccination providers should consider whether the patient is behind, or at risk of becoming behind, on recommended vaccines; their risk of the vaccine-preventable disease; and the reactogenicity profile of the vaccines.
Administer COVID-19 vaccines and vaccines that may be more likely to cause a local reaction in different limbs, if possible. For more information, please review best practices for administering multiple injections at CDC Administer the Vaccine(s).
The Docket mobile app is available in Minnesota for Minnesotans to access their MIIC immunization records. Docket requires up-to-date demographic data for a person to access their records. Learn more about Docket at Find My Immunization Record. In order to ensure that people have access to their data, please remember to do the following:
- Each time a client receives services at your organization, please confirm/update all of their demographic information and ensure that it is sent to MIIC. This includes first/last name, middle name, phone number, residential address, email address, and mother's maiden name.
Note: Please do not send 999-999-9999 or 000-000-0000 as a phone number.
- If the client is not receiving health services, but requests an update to their demographic information in MIIC, please complete this request. Authorized MIIC users may directly update information. Ensure that at least one person at your organization has access to the MIIC user interface to complete this work. If you need to add a MIIC user, please either contact your organization administrator or contact the MIIC Help Desk.
Resolving data discrepancies and updating the demographic and/or immunization information on people as needed is a requirement of the Data Use Agreement all organizations sign in order to participate in MIIC.
Please ensure that your organization includes vaccine manufacturer information when sending data exchange messages for immunization data to MIIC. This information is a required field for data exchange and is particularly important for COVID-19 booster dose planning and administration. The MIIC team will continue to reach out to providers who are missing manufacturer information. If you have any questions about including these data in your data exchange messages, please reach out to the MIIC Help Desk.
MIIC has created an internal report to help providers plan for COVID-19 booster dose administration. This report will provide the number of people recommended to receive a Pfizer dose per week by provider, based on the organization that entered the second dose. The MIIC team is working on developing other reports to help with booster dose planning. We will share more information when they are available. To request the report, please email the MIIC Help Desk. Please use “COVID-19 Booster Dose Planning Report” in the subject line and include your MIIC organization code in the body of your email request.
Some existing inventory of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines expire in October. Please look up your specific lot details to determine your vaccine expiration dates at Moderna: How To Look Up Vial Expiration Date.
Do not dispose of expired Moderna vials as this product line may announce shelf-life extensions as early as next week. While we await a decision on extended expiration dates, mark any expired Moderna vials “DO NOT USE.” We recommend checking Moderna’s website at the beginning of October and will communicate when we know more.
We cannot process vaccine orders submitted to MIIC after 10 a.m. today for the rest of the week due to the end of the federal fiscal year. Ordering will resume the morning of Monday, Oct. 4.
Minnesota is now operating under federal weekly vaccine thresholds that do not allow for stockpiling of doses and aim to minimize vaccine wastage. Supply of COVID-19 vaccines continues to be enough to meet the needs of everyone who needs a primary series and a booster. Going forward, we will be monitoring current inventory and recent throughput before approving orders to avoid stockpiling of inventory.
Before placing any requests for COVID-19 vaccines in MIIC:
- Be mindful of your site’s existing inventory and vaccination throughput; only order what you need.
- Place smaller orders with greater frequency. We recommend ordering vaccine biweekly for sites with high throughput and monthly or bi-monthly for smaller sites when inventory is below a one-week supply.
- We may reach out to you before approving MIIC vaccine requests if your site is requesting more doses than we'd expect.
Janssen COVID-19 vaccine is available
Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) COVID-19 vaccine is available to order again in MIIC. Janssen COVID-19 vaccines shipping now have expiration dates in November and December of 2021.
We anticipate longer expiration dates of 6 months once existing inventory is used up.
Request COVID-19 vaccine in MIIC
COVID-19 registered providers may request vaccine in MIIC. 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, 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.
COVID-19 vaccine shipping cadence
Providers can expect COVID-19 vaccine and ancillary kit deliveries within the following timelines:
- Moderna and Janssen COVID-19 vaccine and ancillary kits arrive within 2-3 business days of placing orders in MIIC.
- Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine and ancillary kits arrive within 3-5 business days of placing orders in MIIC.
Find previous bulletins at COVID-19 Vaccine Provider Updates.
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