|
|
Welcome to the COVID-19 Vaccine Partner Newsletter! Here you'll find the latest news and information on COVID-19 vaccine related topics.
|
|
Q: WHAT ARE THE STEPS TO EXPANDING VACCINE ELIGIBILITY AND UPDATING STANDING ORDERS?
A: There are several key steps that must be followed in order for a vaccines to be authorized for use. The Washington State Department of Health has put together a step-by-step summary to ensure clarity before providers begin administering vaccine.
Step 1: Vaccine manufacturer submits new vaccine data to FDA
Step 2: New vaccine data is reviewed by FDA, ACIP, and the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup (WSSSRW)
Step 3: Approval by the FDA, ACIP, WSSSRW
Step 4: Standing orders are updated the provider offices for administration of vaccine based on new recommendations; providers may wait for CDC or Washington state to update standing orders, but should not administer vaccine before orders are signed
Step 5: Recipients can use Vaccine Locator to find establishment that is offering the vaccine
For more information, please visit the Standing Orders section of the Clinical Information for COVID-19 Vaccine Providers page on the DOH website.
|
|
WASHINGTON STANDING ORDERS UPDATED
Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for 5-11 Years
The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Statewide Standing Orders for 5-11 Years of Age have been updated to reflect the new booster dose recommendations for children in this age group.
|
|
UPDATED RESOURCES WITH 5-11 YR BOOSTER INFORMATION
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has expanded COVID-19 booster eligibility for children ages 5-11. In addition, the CDC is strengthening its recommendation that those 12 and older who are immunocompromised and those 50 and older should receive a second booster at least four months after their first.
As COVID-19 cases increase across the country, these recommendations will help restore and enhance protection against severe infection.
We have updated the following vaccine resources:
|
|
BOOSTER DOSE REFERENCE GUIDE FOR ALL AGES
The Washington State Department of Heath has created a new reference guide to help you keep track of COVID-19 booster guidance for all age groups and vaccine brands. We hope you find this helpful!
|
|
ACIP MEETING MATERIALS AVAILABLE
As highlighted in last Friday's newsletter, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met on May 19, 2022, to discuss COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness, vaccine safety, and vaccine acceptance. The recordings of the meeting are now available as well as the presentations.
Below are some key metrics covered in the meeting (source: Immunize.org).
- As of mid-May 2022, over 82 million COVID-19 cases and over 1 million COVID-19 related deaths have been reported in the United States.
- Unvaccinated people aged 5 years and older had a 10 times greater risk of dying from COVID-19 when compared to people vaccinated with at least the primary series.
- A new analysis indicates that vaccines could have prevented at least 318,000 U.S. COVID-19 deaths between January 2021 and April 2022.
- Since March 2020, almost 5 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported among children aged 5 through 11 years. More than 15,000 children required hospitalization, and 189 died.
- Almost 90% of children hospitalized for COVID-19 during the Omicron surge were unvaccinated, and over half of hospitalized children were Black or Hispanic. One-third of hospitalized children had no underlying medical conditions, and 27% required ICU admission.
- Only 28.8% of U.S. children aged 5 through 11 years have completed their primary series.
- 14.4% of rural children 5 through 11 received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine as of April 27, 2022, compared to 39.8% of children in large urban areas.
|
|
NEED HELP PROMOTING PEDIATRIC COVID-19 BOOSTER DOSES?
Get sample messages, posts and graphics
Following last weeks recommendation for pediatric booster doses for ages 5 through 11 years, Public Health Initiative has published materials to help health care providers encourage pediatric COVID-19 booster doses. The resources include talking points on pediatric vaccines, as well as an Answers to Tough Questions document. The Initiative’s Booster Dose Toolkit also offers communication resources, including sharable social media graphics and messaging.
Spread the word and encourage everyone to stay up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines!
|
|
 UPDATE VACCINE LOCATOR
If your facility is planning to administer the COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 6 months through 5 years once it is authorized, please make sure you are signed up and visible on the Vaccine Locator website. If you are not, you'll need to register with WA HEALTH or another API system.
If your establishment is already on Vaccine Locator, stay tuned for additional information on how to update your vaccine accessibility settings. Please reach out to the WA HEALTH team at wahealth@doh.wa.gov if you have questions or concerns.
If your facility is offering the COVID-19 vaccine to other age groups in the general public, please ensure that your facility settings are up to date in WA HEALTH.
To review our onboarding guide and FAQs for vaccine reporting, please visit our website.
|
|
SHARE YOUR FEEDBACK WITH NEW JERSEY
In partnership with the American College of Physicians, the NJ Immunization Network is drafting a community vaccination clinic replication guide, and they are looking for feedback on how these types of events are run in communities throughout Washington.
They have put together a survey with a goal of identifying strategies that have contributed to successful community-based/focused vaccine clinics across various environments and organizations in the United States.
If you have a few minutes, please help out our fellow health care professionals in NJ by sharing your feedback. Thank you!
|
|
TEMPERATURE LOGS DUE JUNE 1ST
Providers enrolled in the COVID-19 Vaccine Program - May logs are due next Wednesday!
An email with a link to where you can upload your temperature logs will be sent out to the Primary and Backup Vaccine Coordinators listed on your COVID-19 Vaccine Program provider agreement. If you do not receive an email with a link to your May temperature log submission screen, please reach out to us at covid.vaccine@doh.wa.gov and we will work with you to ensure that we have the correct contacts listed on your provider agreement.
Steps on submitting monthly temperature logs can be found here:
COVID-19 Vaccine Program Temperature Log Monthly Requirement Guide
If you have any questions, please email covid.vaccine@doh.wa.gov.
*Please note, if you are enrolled in the Childhood Vaccine Program, you will need to follow the requirements of that program to submit temperature logs, in addition to what is submitted to the COVID-19 Vaccine Program.
|
|
CDC'S CLINICAL CONSIDERATIONS UPDATED
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have updated the Interim Clinical Considerations for Use of COVID-19 Vaccines Currently Approved or Authorized in the United States.
- Single booster dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for healthy children age 5 through 11 years at least 5 months after the primary series (a total of 3 doses)
- Give booster dose at least 3 months after the primary series in children who are moderately to severely immunocompromised (a total of 4 doses)
- Immunocompromised people age 12 years and older should receive a second booster dose at least 4 months after the first booster dose
- All adults age 50 and older should receive a second booster dose at least 4 months after the first booster dose
- Adults age 18 through 49 years who received 2 doses of Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine as their primary and booster doses may receive a second booster dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine at least 4 months after the first booster.
|
|
PFIZER-BIONTECH COVID-19 VACCINE FOR ADULTS
The licensed Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for adults (the Biologics License Application [BLA] labeled product known as Comirnaty®) will soon be available for ordering.
- Comirnaty® will be available on or around June 6, 2022.
- Product is limited. There are only 20 million doses for the entire nation and once they are exhausted, no additional doses will be available.
- Pfizer-BioNTech Grey Cap, the same formulation as BLA-labeled product, will remain available and supply is not limited.
- The EUA and BLA products have different labels and NDCs; however, the vaccines are identical and interchangeable, as determined by the FDA. The storage and handling guidelines are the same for both products. See the COVID-19 Vaccine Quick Reference Guide for details.
Details on Pfizer-BioNTech trainings for healthcare providers are available.
There is plenty of vaccine available for any adult who wants to be vaccinated. When feasible, inventory should be used prior to ordering additional vaccine to reduce possible waste.
|
|
FEDERAL COVID-19 PUBLIC ASSISTANCE FUNDS
Deadline is June 30!
The Washington Emergency Management Division - Public Assistance Program will provide help to applicants in our state that intend to request federal public assistance funds for the COVID-19 response. Applicants must submit their request as soon as possible, but no later than June 30, 2022.
|
|
HOW TO OPT-OUT OF ADULT ANCILLARY KITS
Providers may opt-out (decline) ancillaries for any adult vaccine order including:
- J&J (100 dose MOQ)
- Moderna 10 (100 dose MOQ)
- Pfizer-BioNTech Gray (300 dose MOQ)
Note: The opt-out option is not currently available for pediatric COVID-19 vaccine as Pfizer-BioNTech pediatric ancillary kits contain the diluent necessary to administer the vaccine.
To opt out of the COVID-19 ancillary kit, the provider must:
- Include a comment in the comments section of the order screen within the Immunization Information System (IIS) as seen below and submit the order as normal.
- The comment applied to the order will not continue to roll over to the following orders placed by the provider within the IIS so providers must opt out of the ancillary kit with each order that is placed.
As a reminder, COVID-19 vaccine orders are approved on Mondays and Thursdays. To limit the chance of error, requests for opting out of the ancillary kits are being limited to what is received within the IIS. Please do not email opt-out requests.
Once the order is submitted to the CDC, ancillary kits cannot be returned to the distributor. Please do not return the kits to the distributor. Attempting to return extra kits may result in ordering permissions being revoked.
Please send any questions or concerns to COVID.vaccine@doh.wa.gov.
|
|
CURRENT BOOSTER GUIDANCE REVIEW
June 1, 2022 12:00-12:45pm
DOH office hours are coming up next week! Please join Kristina Barnes, MSN, MN, RN, Office of Immunizations Public Health Nurse Consultant, to review updated booster guidance including the newly added 5-11 year old group. We will have a Q&A session following the presentation.
Topics covered will include:
- Booster guidance for different vaccine manufacturers and immunocompromising conditions
- Updated guidance for COVID-19 vaccinations for children 5-11 years old
- Considerations for timing of COVID-19 vaccine second booster
If you are unable to attend, the slides will be available after and we will share in a future newsletter.
Join the Meeting in Microsoft Teams
|
|
UPCOMING FDA VRBPAC MEETINGS
June 8, 21, and 22, 2022: These dates are being held for the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) to discuss updates to the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech EUAs for COVID-19 vaccines for younger populations.
June 28, 2022: FDA plans to convene the VRBPAC to discuss whether the SARS-CoV-2 strain composition of COVID-19 vaccines should be modified, and if so, which strain(s) should be selected for fall 2022. This meeting is a follow-up to the April 6th VRBPAC meeting where general considerations for future COVID-19 vaccine booster doses and the strain composition of COVID-19 vaccines to further meet public health needs were discussed.
|
|
|
FOR SCHOOLS AND CHILD CARE FACILITIES
FOR LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES
|
|
SIGN UP FOR THIS NEWSLETTER!
If you aren't already signed up for the COVID-19 Vaccine Partner Newsletter, please visit the Department of Health's email subscribers page here. Once you enter your email, on the next page expand the Immunization topic, select the COVID-19 Vaccine Partner Newsletter, and click submit.
|
|
This newsletter summarizes content from the week of May 22, 2022 and was sent out on May 27, 2022. |
|
|
|
|
