No Provider Agreement? Your Clinic May Be Disenrolled Soon

We are happy to share that 97% of Washington's Childhood Vaccine Program providers have renewed their annual provider agreement for 2021. We have a few providers still making their way through the process and some that have not initiated a renewal at all this year. We will begin the DOH-initiated disenrollment process beginning June 1st if your provider agreement has not been renewed or if your clinic has not initiated a 2021 annual agreement renewal in the IIS.

If you need assistance with this process, please reach out to us at WAChildhoodVaccines@doh.wa.gov.

Clarification: Required Vaccine Loss Log

We heard from some of you that our last article about the Vaccine Loss Log requirement was confusing. Thank you for that feedback. We want to ensure we clarify the requirement below:

Providers must submit the Vaccine Loss Log to DOH if:

1. The provider does not report vaccine loss in the IIS.
2. The vaccine loss totals $2,500.00 or more.

We'd like to help clarify this statement by sharing that:

In addition to adjusting your inventory in the IIS for expired, wasted or spoiled vaccine, clinics also need to document vaccine loss on the Vaccine Loss Log. If the value of loss for the month is over $2500 the loss log will need to be submitted to DOH for further review.  If the loss is under $2500 then the loss log should be stored with your temperature logs and other Childhood Vaccine Program documentation. Please don’t forget to follow the vaccine return process in the IIS for expired or spoiled vaccine. 

We hope this helps to clarify that the loss log is required in addition to reporting inventory and waste in the IIS, however, it only needs to be submitted to DOH when there is $2500 or more in vaccine loss. Please reach out to us at WAChildhoodVaccines@doh.wa.gov if you have questions.

Updated: WA Vaccine Assessment Grid

On April 29, 2021, the Washington Vaccine Association’s (WVA) Operations Committee recommended approval of the 2021-22 Vaccine Assessment Grid which will be in effect between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022. On July 1, the current year’s Grid will be replaced on the website by the new Grid.

The 2021-22 Grid has been posted to the WVA’s website and a PDF version can be downloaded here. The 2021-22 Grid prices are not changing from the current Grid in effect, albeit there are two new vaccines that have been added: MenQuadfi™ and Vaxelis™ which you can order beginning July 1, 2021.

Please ensure your office’s billing and operations support teams receive this email. For any questions, please email info@wavaccine.org or visit the WVA website.

Reminder: CVP and COVID Vaccine Programs Are Different

Please remember to send your COVID Vaccine Program accountability forms and documents to the COVID.Vaccine@doh.wa.gov inbox and send your Childhood Vaccine Program forms and documents to WAChildhoodVaccines@doh.wa.gov. These two programs operate independently and have different email boxes. We've noticed many temperature logs and other forms coming into the wrong inbox.

Please make sure you share your accountability documents to the right place to ensure timely processing. Thank you for your effort and understanding.

Clarifiction: Administering COVID-19 Vaccine With Other Vaccines

Providers can now administer COVID-19 vaccines and other vaccines to patients without waiting 14 days. Previously, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended COVID-19 vaccines not be given within 14 days of any other vaccination. In the ACIP meeting on May 12, 2021, the committee voted to remove this spacing recommendation based on further COVID-19 vaccination data. All people needing COVID-19 vaccination can now receive other vaccines on the same day or within days of each other.

This means that anyone, both children and adults, can get other vaccinations on the same day they receive their COVID-19 vaccination.

We recommend health care providers share this message with families and patients to reduce the need for multiple clinic visits. In addition, now is a good time to send out reminder/recall notifications to children and families who are behind on their required immunizations. We expect health care providers will have more immunization appointments the closer we get to the 2021-22 school year, and scheduling these appointments ahead of time with families will reduce stress and improve the health of people in Washington.

For questions about the immunization schedule, the Immunization Information System forecast, or any other immunization clinical questions, please send an email to ImmuneNurses@doh.wa.gov. Check out the Immunization Training web page for more resources and training opportunities.

Updated Resource: Vaccine Management Plan Template

We are excited to share with you that the Vaccine Management Plan Template has been updated into a fillable PDF form so that you can easily fill it out, save it, make updates, and print it to store in your clinics near your vaccine storage units.

Beware of SAW Phishing Texts

We want to make you aware of a new phishing text targeting SAW users to harvest their credentials and personal data.

The spoofed phishing texts contain messages such as the following: “Your SecureAccess Washington (SAW) claim account is currently on hold for verification, please verify by following the instruction in the link below.”

SecureAccess Washington has posted a warning at the top of its webpage stating: “SAW will never send bit.ly links via SMS or email.”

If you see these phishing messages, please do not respond.