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This weekly newsletter provides summarized content on COVID-19 vaccine related topics. This broad level of information is tailored towards health care professionals, partners, and the general public.
WASHINGTON COVID-19 VACCINATION STATUS: ALL AGES 16 AND OLDER
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COVID-19 VACCINE DISTRIBUTION UPDATE
The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) is thrilled to share the state surpassed another remarkable vaccine milestone this week. More than 5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Washington. Thanks to the hard work happening across the state, we are achieving these goals faster than ever. When vaccine rollout began in mid-December, it took 53 days to distribute our first 1 million doses. This month, it took us just 15 days to distribute 1 million doses in order to reach our latest milestone.
As of April 26, more than 5,248,061 doses of vaccine have been given across the state, which is more than 81% of the 6,429,730 doses that have been delivered to our providers and long-term care programs. Washington is currently averaging more than 61,000 vaccine doses given each day and nearly 29% of people in Washington are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. This information can be found on the DOH data dashboard under the vaccines tab, which is updated three times per week.
The full news release includes information on second dose reminders, how to access your immunization records online, and future vaccine allocation updates.
Read the news release in English or in Spanish.
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VACCINE ALLOCATION STRATEGY MOVING TO PROVIDER NEED-BASED APPROACH
The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) is adjusting the way COVID-19 vaccines are allocated in an effort to quickly and equitably reach more people statewide and get vaccine where it’s needed most.
Until recently, DOH used a pro-rata approach for allocations, which means doses were allocated to counties proportionally to match the size of their populations. As vaccine supply has increased, the number of doses health care providers are requesting doesn’t always align with county pro-rata allocations. Moving forward, DOH will make allocation decisions based on individual provider requests for vaccine, in addition to population size. Transitioning to this allocation model moves us closer into alignment with our existing childhood and adult vaccine programs, which are both based on provider request. We will continue to work closely with partners to ensure vaccine is available and accessible to everyone who lives or works in Washington state.
Read additional details in the English news release.
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 YOU'RE FULLY VACCINATED. NOW WHAT?
First, congratulations! Thanks for doing your part to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Now that you’re fully vaccinated, you might be wondering how your day-to-day life will change. You may also be wondering about what precautions you should take from now on.
The short of it, is that you can resume some of the activities you had stopped because of the pandemic. However, we all need to keep in mind that others are still at risk. Think of it this way: the vaccine protects you. To protect others, you still need to take precautions. That’s because we don’t know how well the vaccine prevents the spread of COVID-19 from one person to another. It’s also important to remember that while the chances are very low, it is still possible to get COVID-19 after being vaccinated.
Read the full DOH blog in English.
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WASHINGTON STATE RESUMES USE OF JOHNSON & JOHNSON VACCINE
The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) will immediately resume use of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine across the state. This decision is based on recommendations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup, as well as careful consideration and close review by DOH.
The 11-day pause was taken as a precaution after six cases of a rare but severe type of blood clot were reported following administration of the J&J vaccine.
“Above all else, safety is our top priority. The pause was proof the surveillance systems in place to monitor the safety of COVID-19 vaccines are working,” said Secretary of Health Umair A. Shah, MD, MPH. “These findings once again show we have three vaccines available that are effective and safe.”
Providers with J&J on hand can once again begin scheduling appointments and administering the vaccine. During the pause, about 170,000 doses of J&J were being held by providers across the state.
Read the news release in English or in Spanish.
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 COVID VACCINES: JUST THE FACTS PART 2
The Department of Health (DOH) recently published a second blog addressing COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. This week, DOH addresses rumors about microchips or tracking devices in the COVID-19 vaccine, and if home remedies can prevent or protect people from COVID-19.
Read the full blog post in English.
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 DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH UPDATES MASK GUIDANCE DOCUMENTS
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently published an update on mask requirements for those who are fully vaccinated. Fully vaccinated individuals can participate in outdoor activities and recreation without a mask, except in certain crowded settings and venues. People are considered fully vaccinated ≥2 weeks after they have received the second dose in a 2-dose series (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna), or ≥2 weeks after they have received a single-dose vaccine (Johnson and Johnson (J&J)/Janssen).
Based on this guidance, the Department of Health has updated the following documents to reflect these changes:
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 Made To Save is a national grassroots effort to ensure communities hardest hit by the pandemic have access to COVID-19 vaccines and accurate, timely information. The Made To Save website has a variety of helpful resources for the general public on COVID-19 vaccines, including resources on:
- Information about the COVID-19 vaccines.
- How to talk to your friends and family about getting vaccinated.
- How to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
View the Made To Save English website here, or view the Spanish website here.
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IMPROVING VACCINE ACCESSIBILITY THROUGH WA HEALTH
Health equity is central to the Department of Health's COVID-19 response and vaccine rollout. To support vaccine equity, WA HEALTH, the state's emergency response and monitoring solution, has added new functionality to allow vaccine sites to indicate what accessibility supports they offer.
Starting April 23rd, state vaccine partners will be able to highlight accessibility supports in WA HEALTH. This information will populate in Vaccine Locator and allow the public to search for vaccine sites that offer the right accessibility supports, such as translators or wheelchair ramps, to ensure they are successfully able to secure a vaccine.
Please add your vaccine site’s accessibility in WA HEALTH by going to the “Therapeutics/Vaccines” page. If you have any further questions on need assistance adding accessibility information please email wahealth@doh.wa.gov.
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MODERNA VIAL UPDATES
On April 1, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized Moderna to release a new 14-dose vial. The vial itself is the same, but they began filling it for a higher volume. Moderna plans to fully transition to the 14-dose vials and discontinue the ten dose vials by the end of May.
Here’s a few things you should know:
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Starting in May, you may order and receive both presentations (10 and 14-dose vials). However, we expect to transition to just the 14-dose vial by the end of the month.
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You may be able to extract a 15th However, since there is a limited supply of low dead-volume syringes, we expect you will be able to reliably extract only 14 doses. Do not pool liquid from multiple vials to get additional doses. If you cannot get the 15th dose, do not report it as wastage.
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The minimum order size for the 14-dose presentation will be 140 doses (ten vials of 14 doses).
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There will be a new National Drug Code (NDC) for the 140-dose minimum vaccine order size and ancillary kits.
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If you receive both presentations, we recommend storing them on separate shelves. This helps prevent using one presentation when you meant to use another and makes it easier to accurately track your inventory.
Please reach out to Covid.Vaccine@doh.wa.gov if you have any questions.
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CDC RECOMMENDS USE OF JOHNSON & JOHNSON VACCINE TO RESUME
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommend use of Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine resume in the United States after a temporary pause.
Reports of adverse events following the use of J&J/Janssen vaccine suggest an increased risk of a rare adverse event called thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS). Nearly all reports of this serious condition, which involves blood clots with low platelets, have been in adult women younger than 50 years old.
On April 23, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) concluded that the benefits of resuming Janssen COVID-19 vaccination among persons aged ≥18 years outweighed the risks and reaffirmed its interim recommendation under FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization, which includes a new warning for rare clotting events among women aged 18–49 years.
People can read the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (CDC) article on ACIP's updated recommendations here.
CDC has Johnson & Johnson Update page with a Q&A section here.
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WHAT DO I DO FOR PATIENTS VACCINATED OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES?
We don’t know the safety and efficacy of giving someone a COVID-19 vaccine authorized in the United States after they received a COVID-19 vaccine not authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not recommend revaccinating patients who completed a COVID-19 vaccine series authorized by the World Health Organization (WHO). However, the CDC recommends providers offer an FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccine to patients who:
- Partially completed a COVID-19 vaccine series authorized by WHO
- Partially completed or completed a COVID-19 vaccine series not authorized by the FDA or WHO
For more information, see the interim clinical considerations for COVID-19 vaccines.
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Q: How do I know COVID-19 vaccines are safe given how quickly the vaccine approval process has been?
A: We have a video that helps to answer this question! Check out our YouTube video here.
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WEBINAR - COVID-19 VACCINE PROVIDER OPEN DOOR SESSION
The Department of Health vaccine management team hosts bi-monthly COVID-19 provider open door sessions. The next session will cover the vaccine compliance process and will be from:
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Thursday, May 6, 2021
Click here to join the meeting
Or call in (audio only)
+1 564-999-2000, 716052430#
Phone Conference ID: 716 052 430#
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FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC
FOR INDUSTRY
FOR HEALTH PARTNERS
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This newsletter summarizes content from the week of April 24, 2021 and was sent out on April 30, 2021. |
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