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Vaccine supply continues to be limited and many providers and patients still have questions on when vaccination will be available for those who are eligible. Anyone eligible for Phase 1a or 1b based on occupation should check with their employer to see if arrangements have already been made for vaccinating their employees. If not, they should register with the local health department in the locality where they work. Anyone eligible based on age or medical condition should register with the local health department in the locality where they live. Virginia has confirmed that the District of Columbia and Maryland are following the same approach. Because expected supply is limited, it may be weeks or longer before vaccination appointments become available for those who have pre-registered.
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VDH is currently working on a plan to expand its call center capacity to handle the exceptionally high volume of calls from patients and providers regarding COVID-19 vaccines. We will share more details with you as soon as possible.
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Facilities or systems that intend to redistribute or transfer COVID-19 vaccine to other providers should ensure they understand and follow the COVID-19 Vaccine Redistribution Process. Also, remember to use this survey link to report when you redistribute COVID-19 vaccine to another provider or facility.
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At this time, given the public health emergency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising that it is acceptable to use every full dose obtainable from each vaccine vial. However, any remaining liquid that does not constitute a full dose should not be pooled with liquid from one or more other vials to create a full dose. To learn more about safe use of multidose vials during COVID-19 vaccination, view our course in TRAIN (ID #1095260).
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When planning vaccination clinics, take the following actions to avoid wasting doses.
- Count how many appointments are scheduled each day in order to estimate how many vials will need to be thawed and removed from storage throughout the day. Do not take them out and thaw them all at once. During the clinic, continuously communicate how many patients have arrived and how many are still expected to show up so doses can be prepared accordingly based on the actual number of patients.
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Create standby lists of prioritized persons to receive any unused doses and call individuals on the list if there are extra doses.
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Monitor vaccine to ensure it is consistently stored at the temperatures indicated by the manufacturer. Label vials with the “thawed on” and “discard by” dates and times. Once thawed, unopened vials of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can be used up to 120 hours (5 days) if stored properly in the refrigerator. Unopened vials of Moderna vaccine can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 30 days. Opened vials of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccine must be discarded after 6 hours. Labels for Moderna vaccine storage and handling are available here and labels for Pfizer-BioNTech are available here. CDC’s COVID-19 vaccine refrigerator temperature monitoring log can be found here.
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Report wasted doses using the Vaccine Wastage Reporting Tool.
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Additional upcoming events |
Additional upcoming events can be found here. |
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