OPA COVID-19 Vaccines: Second Dose Alert and March 8, 2021 Update

OPA COVID-19 Vaccine Update and Second Dose Alert

Ohio is receiving the largest amount of vaccines to date, with 448,390 doses of all three available COVID-19 vaccines distributed through the state allocation and the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program allocation. As vaccine availability increases, it is crucial to ensure that patients are receiving the correct vaccine.

• Verify if this is the patient’s first or second dose of the vaccine.
• If a second dose, verify the patient's vaccine status on Ohio’s Impact Statewide Immunization Information System (ImpactSIIS) to confirm the manufacturer of the previously administered dose.
• The second dose needs to be the same manufacturer’s vaccine.

The CDC-provided vaccine card can also provide an additional form of verification of the manufacturer and dose administered. 

The vaccine allocation has now expanded to Phase 1C and part of Phase 2 of Governor DeWine’s vaccine rollout plan. This week’s distribution efforts focus on individuals with medical conditions that increase the risk of severe illness and death from COVID-19, Ohioans working in particular occupations including child care services, funeral services, law enforcement, and correction services. Additionally, individuals over the age of 60 are included in this phase.

Vaccine Allocation Planning Assumptions

The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) is aware of the challenges pharmacies face when predicting appointment availability several weeks in advance since the vaccine is allocated on a week-by-week basis. Therefore ODH has encouraged providers to schedule appointments for 100% of their allocation as soon as they receive a notification for the next allocation. As providers seek to plan appointments several weeks in advance, providers can calculate 75% of the current week’s allocation for the subsequent weeks. Example:

• Week 1: 1000 vaccine appointments
• Week 2 and 3: 750 available appointments. Additional appointments can be added after a final allocation notification is received.

ODH Vaccine Management Solution (VMS)

ODH continues to develop and support a statewide scheduling system. This platform is intended to support vaccinators who do not currently have an appointment scheduling system set up. The VMS system features include determining patient eligibility, scheduling appointments, submitting health information, and receiving updates and reminders. The scheduling system is currently in a pilot phase in certain counties. Training videos for the system can be found here.

Timely Reporting of COVID-19 Vaccines

The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) has urged vaccinators to ensure that all entries into the Ohio ImpactSIIS include Target Population/Occupation (TP/O) data. ODH is in the process of reviewing submission data and plans to use the data entered to understand vaccination trends in the state that will assist in future allocations. 

If you have a story or pictures to share about your COVID-19 vaccination efforts, we would like to showcase them to the rest of the membership. Please send your stories and photographs to Jessica Wotruba at jwotruba@ohiopharmacists.org.

    OPA is working diligently to facilitate communication between state decision-makers and member pharmacists. OPA has created multiple COVID-19 resources, including a COVID-19 Vaccine Information Webpage, COVID-19 Testing Hub, and COVID-19 Resources Webpage, on the OPA website www.ohiopharmacists.org under the Resources drop-down box. For further questions, please contact Myriam Shaw Ojeda, Fellow in Policy and Innovation, at mshawojeda@ohiopharmacists.org.