COVID-19 Vaccine

Storage Unit Reminder

Vaccines can only be stored in certain acceptable storage units. Your vaccine storage unit is a key component in maintaining the vaccine cold chain at your practice.

Your vaccine storage units must:

Consistently maintain storage temperature.
Have enough space to properly store vaccines throughout the year including back to school and flu season.
Have separate external doors for refrigerator and freezer.
Have Do Not Unplug stickers at the outlet, on unit, and on the circuit breaker.
Order Do Not Unplug stickers here.

All units must be plugged directly into a dedicated wall outlet. Units cannot be plugged into:

GFI/GFCI outlets (specialized outlets with a built-in breaker, may have reset buttons)
Outlets that can be activated by a wall switch
Extension cords, power strips, surge protectors
Ensure that the unit, plug, and circuit breaker on the electric panel are clearly labeled to prevent accidental loss of power.

Selecting a unit to store your vaccines in is an important decision.

Purchasing a unit that is reliable and accurate up-front is a worthwhile investment, both in time and money, for your practice. The time needed to respond to out of range temperatures and the cost of reimbursement for wasted vaccines can be very burdensome for practices whose unit does not maintain in-range temperatures.

To ensure that the unit that you are considering is the best option for your clinic, email our program at TempCheck@phila.gov so that we can offer insight on the units that are being considered based on other providers experiences with a brand, the typical supply on hand at your practice, and other considerations based on the CDC recommendations for storage units.

COVID-19 Vaccine Ordering Deadline

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH) Immunization Program would like to remind COVID-19 providers that the deadline to order COVID-19 vaccine is Wednesday at 5pm for orders placed both through Philavax and Monday.com. Orders placed after the deadline will not be processed.

Vaccine orders are delivered on the following Tuesday or Wednesday; please plan accordingly for upcoming clinics.

Quick Steps to Order:

Going forward, the Immunization Program will not process any orders that do not have a closed reconciliation and submitted temperatures by Wednesday at 5PM.

If you have questions, please reach out to vaccines@phila.gov.

Did Your Patient Receive a COVID-19 Vaccination Outside the United States?

Have questions? The “People vaccinated outside the United States” section of the CDC’s Interim Clinical Considerations for Use of COVID-19 Vaccines provides guidance on different scenarios.

Talk to your patient and gather the initial information:

Which COVID-19 vaccine did the patient receive?
Is the COVID-19 vaccine authorized by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or listed for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO)?
Did your patient complete a full series of this COVID-19 vaccine (e.g. receive both doses if two doses are recommended)?

Guidelines as of 7/15/21:

US FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines:

Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty, Tozinameran; mRNA nucleoside modified) – 2 doses
Moderna (Spikevax; mRNA nucleoside modified) – 2 doses
Johnson & Johnson / Janssen (Ad26.COV2-S recombinant) – 1 dose

COVID-19 vaccines listed for emergency use by the WHO:

US FDA-authorized vaccines above
AstraZeneca-Oxford (Covishield, Vaxzevria; ChAdOx1-S recombinant) – 2 doses
Sinopharm (Vero Cell inactivated) – 2 doses
Sinovac (Vero Cell inactivated) – 2 doses

See the table below for a summary of recommendations for patients who received a COVID-19 vaccination outside of the US:

Resources:

Thank you for keeping Philadelphia safe and healthy! If you have any questions, please email vaccines@phila.gov.

Make Your Provider Page Public with VaccineFinder!

Dear Immunization Partner,

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH) and the CDC are requesting that you make your provider page in VaccineFinder public. VaccineFinder is the portal that you’re using to log your COVID-19 vaccine inventory every 24 hours and can be found here: https://covid.locating.health/

Making your provider page public will allow fellow Philadelphians to search for vaccine clinics near them and therefore make it easier for them to be vaccinated. Your public-facing page will not display inventory information (i.e., number of doses on hand). PDPH has created a training video, linked below, to help you complete this process if you need:

Click here to watch the VaccineFinder Training Video

Please include any information regarding registrations for vaccinations, including a phone number or scheduling link, if possible, on your display page so that members of the public can more easily schedule appointments. As distribution and eligibility expands, it is important to promote vaccine opportunities that are currently available. If your site has the capacity to accept walk-ins, please also include this information on your VaccineFinder page as we hope to continue improving accessibility to vaccinations across the city.

We understand that making your VaccineFinder page public, posting your registration information, and allowing walk-in appointments may raise concerns. If you or your site are concerned, feel free to reach out to a contact at PDPH or email vaccines@phila.gov and they will connect you with a PDPH staff member to help you address your concerns.

Thank you for all the hard work you are doing to vaccinate Philadelphians!