OPA COVID-19 Vaccine Updates: September 7, 2021

Informational Resource Outreach Opportunity
Ohio’s managed care plans have created unique informational resources to boost vaccine confidence among community members. At this time, pharmacies can order door hangers with crucial COVID-19 vaccine information for their community members. Please respond to the COVID-19 Informational Resource by Friday, September 10, if you are interested in receiving this informational resource.

Ohio Department of Health (ODH) Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) COVID-19 Vaccine Availability
ODH announced that it has acquired a limited supply of Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) COVID-19 vaccine and will accept vaccine requests via the ImpactSIIS Vaccine Ordering Management System (VOMS). These doses will expire on September 21, 2021. Providers will have a short window to administer the vaccine and should plan requests for the vaccine accordingly. Ordering a minimum quantity of 100 doses of the J&J COVID-29 vaccine will be open while supplies last.

Medicaid Vaccine Incentives Deadline Extended
Ohio’s managed care plans announced that the incentives for administering the COVID-19 vaccine have been extended to December 31, 2021. The incentives include increased pharmacist administration reimbursement to $70 for first doses and gift cards for patients ages 12 and above on Medicaid insurance who received their first dose.  

1. Pharmacies can receive Visa gift cards directly to give to patients. If you are an independent pharmacy vaccinator, please email RxCovidTracking@centene.com for your gift card needs. Thank you to those who have already responded with the projected numbers of gift cards needed.
   1. Once you get to 75% of your gift card allocation, please reach out to Attn: Meera Patel-Zook – Gift Card Request at RxCovidTracking@centene.com so that we can ship out an additional allotment to your store.
2. If you have received gift cards, please track them using COVID-19 Vaccine Gift Card Tracker Example. Vaccinators can add all of the information for all MCOs in ONE tracker now and send that tracker to RxCOVIDTracking@CENTENE.COM.

ODH Motivations and Barriers Survey
ODH is sharing a survey to understand real-time patient motivations and barriers related to the vaccine. This survey is voluntary. ODH will not collect personal identifying information. Vaccinators are requested to provide this four-question survey before vaccination or during the 15 minute wait period after vaccination. Ideas for methods to offer the survey include:

• A staff person reading the questions to the patient and collecting the data on a computer or tablet.
• Patients scanning the QR code to complete the survey on their personal devices.
• The patient provided with access to a tablet or computer to complete the survey

Here is the link to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PLW3DQC. Participation in this survey is voluntary. The motive of the survey is to ensure that ODH has a better picture of motivations and barriers for vaccines.

Helpful State Vaccine Resources and Information

The following resources are helpful for vaccinators to contact ODH regarding vaccine shipments:

• COVID Vaccine Provider Call Center: 1-844-963-4829 (The ODH Provider Call Center is open daily from 8:00 am – 7:00 pm Monday through Friday and is no longer open on weekends)
• COVID-19 Vaccine Provider Resources website
• ImpactSIIS Job Aids and Videos
• ImpactSIIS help desk: email impact@odh.ohio.gov for assistance or call 1-866-349-0002.

    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 at mshawojeda@ohiopharmacists.org.