COVID-19 Vaccine Provider Weekly Updates

Minnesota Department of Health sent this bulletin at 10/21/2022 07:14 AM CDT
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COVID-19 Vaccine Provider Weekly Updates

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Minnesota Department of Health

October 21, 2022

 

Novavax COVID-19 vaccine authorized for booster dose

On Oct. 19, the FDA authorized Novavax monovalent vaccine for a one-time booster dose. The CDC announcement allows a Novavax monovalent COVID-19 booster for adults, age 18 and older, if they have completed primary series vaccination but have not previously received a COVID-19 booster—and if they cannot or will not receive an updated mRNA booster.

Refer to the CDC’s media statement CDC Allows Novavax Monovalent COVID-19 Boosters for Adults Ages 18 and Older  and the EUA factsheets at FDA: Novavax COVID-19 Vaccine, Adjuvanted for further details.

CDC has updated the Interim Clinical Considerations for Use of COVID-19 Vaccines Currently Approved or Authorized in the United States with this new recommendation. MDH is currently updating resources to reflect this change and can be found at COVID-19 Vaccine Providers.

Pediatric bivalent vaccine trainings

Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccine trainings now include information on the bivalent vaccine presentation for ages 5-11 years. More information including links to attend educational sessions can be found at Pfizer: Medical Updates & Immunization Site Training for All Healthcare Providers led by Pfizer Vaccines US Medical Affairs and National Educational Webinars: "Moderna Covid-19 Vaccine, Bivalent"

Moderna is also offering daily interactive office hours found at Regional Medical Affairs Office Hours: "Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent".

The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) held a webinar on Oct. 19 which focused on the bivalent booster recommendations for children ages 5-11.  The webinar was recorded and will be available at: CDC: COVID-19 Vaccine Webinar Series.

Reminder: Allow five business days for direct orders and redistributed vaccine

When placing COVID-19 vaccine orders in MIIC or requesting doses via redistribution, be sure to allow five business days for vaccine to arrive. We are not always able to fill requests for redistributed vaccine. When this happens, we may reach out to you and request that you place a direct order for your site in MIIC instead. It’s important to keep the timeline of five business days in mind when planning vaccine clinics to ensure adequate supply.

Wastage and inventory management reminders

Some wastage of monovalent vaccine is expected as bivalent vaccine becomes widely available and expiry of some adult monovalent products approaches. It is recommended to practice “first in/first out” inventory management for each product and store older vaccines to the front of the refrigerator or freezer. Replacement orders should be small and frequent to avoid large losses of expired vaccine. If you anticipate you will have excess vaccine that you will not use before it expires, please report it to our redistribution smart sheet tool here: Smartsheet: COVID-19 Vaccine Available Form.

Continually monitor vaccine inventory to help reduce administration errors. If vaccines expire before you can use them, remember to report them as nonviable in MIIC. See the following user guide for more details: Reporting Nonviable MDH Vaccine to MIIC.

Reporting Moderna bivalent booster doses to MIIC

Organizations reporting the 12+ Moderna bivalent booster (Spikevax-MOD Omicron 50mcg) to MIIC via electronic data exchange should include the 91313 CPT code in their HL7 messages. There is currently no other way to send these 50mcg bivalent shot messages, though that may change in the future. Shots sent with the Moderna bivalent CVX code (229) or Moderna bivalent NDCs in their HL7 messages will be recorded in MIIC as the 25mcg pediatric dose. Submitting dose information in the dose field will not change this.

Due to these code limitations, MIIC is not currently reaching out to organizations who seem to be entering the wrong Moderna bivalent dose for a client’s age. Mass corrections are possible for organizations who reach out to MIIC with sufficient information about which doses need to be corrected. For questions, reach out to the MIIC helpdesk at health.miichelp@state.mn.us.

Find previous bulletins at COVID-19 Vaccine Provider Updates.