Favoritism some vaccine suppliers give to their prospects should finish, La. well being officers warn

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Louisiana health officials warned health care providers not to prioritize their own patients when distributing vaccines.

Dr. Joe Kanter, of the state health department, said in a memo to providers Tuesday that preferential access to vaccinations must be “stopped immediately” under threat of “adverse measures”.

Health Department spokeswoman Aly Neel told The Associated Press that financial penalties, restrictions on future vaccine allocations and legal action are among the potential penalties traders could face.

The memo included the following guidelines that set out clear eligibility requirements, the emergency distribution process for expired vaccines, and the mandatory guidelines for vaccine reporting. Read below:

Current authorization groups. The following are the persons and providers who are eligible for the phase 1b Tier 1 vaccine.

Eligibility

• People over 70 years.

Authorization for patient status

• Home care patients and their providers. This includes elderly and younger people with disabilities over the age of 16 who receive community or home care, as well as their service providers and customers of home health authorities.
• Dialysis patients and providers.

Authorization for provider groups

• Outpatient service providers and their employees. This includes members of forensic, autopsy, or funeral teams who have direct contact with dead bodies.
• Emergency clinic providers and their employees.
• School nurses and school-based health center staff.
• Providers and employees of community clinics. This includes employees at clinics designated as Federally Qualified Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics.
• Home health officials.
• Staff caring for older adults and people with disabilities in the community and at home. This includes employees who work in home care facilities as well as employees who are employed directly by the person with a disability.
• Behavioral health providers and employees.
• Dentists and staff. This includes all oral health providers.
• Students, residents, faculties and allied health school staff.

2. The vaccine must be made available to all persons in phase 1b tier 1

Vaccine providers cannot establish and prioritize subgroups within the nine populations listed above. For example, when offering the vaccine or making appointments, vendors cannot limit vaccination to their existing patients (see attached letter), nor can they offer vaccines to some eligible subsets but not to others. LDH encourages and expects a fair and equitable process that does not favor or disadvantage any group or classification of patients / recipients over others.

3. Identification of the individual / provider

Vaccine providers must use reasonable efforts to verify the age, patient status, or provider status of anyone seeking an appointment for a vaccine. Providers should inform the individual of acceptable means of identification prior to their appointment. Acceptable IDs:

• Age: Government-issued driver’s license, passport, other government-issued identity card with date of birth. A person over the age of 70 is eligible. Anyone who has not reached their 70th birthday on the day of their appointment is NOT eligible. If ID is not available, a person can verify their age on their own.
• Patient Status: A patient must provide evidence that they are dialyzed at home or regularly. The state has provided a qualification letter from the state health commissioner to people with disabilities. Other forms of verification may also be acceptable, e.g. B. the person’s care plan for community and domestic services.
• Employment: proof of employment such as employee ID card or name badge, pay slip, letter from employer, uniform, parking permit or any other ID acceptable to the vaccine provider.

4. Administer the second dose

All vaccine providers who administer the vaccine will automatically receive a delivery with the same number of second doses. These should arrive +/- 21 or 28 days (vaccine-specific) after receipt of the starting doses. The second dose delivery corresponds to the number of vials as the first dose delivery.

For example, if the provider received 20 vials for the first dose, they would receive 20 vials for the second dose. If a provider is able to extract additional doses from a vial, it is the responsibility of the provider to extract sufficient doses from future shipments.

It is the responsibility of each provider to use the starting doses responsibly to ensure that the same second batch of vaccines provides sufficient doses for each person who has received a first dose. At this point, and until further production and supply chain predictability is achieved, it is not advisable for a supplier to use one of their “Second Dose Shipments” to provide additional doses for additional patients / recipients.

5. Appointments for the second dose

It is the responsibility of the provider to inform each person receiving a starting dose of the day, time and place to receive the second dose of the vaccine. Providers should schedule people for their second dose before the person leaves the vaccination site and / or provide the person with an appointment reminder card or secure electronic reminder notification.

6. LINKS reporting

It is the responsibility of each vaccination center to enter all vaccinations into the LINKS system. All vaccines administered must be entered into the LINKS system no later than 24 hours after administration. It is the expectation of LDH that providers enter the self-identified race of patients / recipients precisely in LINKS. The routine selection of “other” as the standard in the racing field is unacceptable and hinders the ability of the state to understand and resolve inequalities in the distribution of vaccines.

7. Prevention of vaccine loss

Minimizing vaccine loss / waste is a top priority for the state. In circumstances where there is a risk that the vaccine will expire (within 6 hours), every effort should be made to find additional people in the current eligibility phase / level for the vaccine. If this is not possible, it is acceptable to vaccinate people outside of the current approval phase / level to avoid wasting the vaccine. Vaccine providers need to have protocols in place to prevent loss / waste of vaccines. It should be noted that LDH regularly informs the public of vaccine loss / waste.

8. Specific Vaccine Storage Instructions for Moderna Vaccines from Morris & Dickson

For vaccine providers receiving Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine from Morris & Dickson, please note:

• The product comes in a chilled cooler and appears to be frozen.
• The product must be placed in a refrigerator upon arrival.
• The product must NOT be placed in a freezer.
• Vaccines must be given within 29 days of receiving the shipment.

9. Prohibition of patient / non-patient discrimination in the use of OWS COVID-19 vaccine doses

Please refer to the attached signed memorandum which discusses the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of “known” or “existing” patient status, or otherwise for vaccine delivery purposes.

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