Vaccines—Estimating accurate number of doses needed and new CDC LTC toolkit

The article below is a top story from this week's ACTION newsletter—Care Providers of Minnesota's weekly newsletter for members. The newsletter focuses on current legislative issues, regulations, long-term care trends, and other Association news. Each Thursday evening, it is delivered to your inbox. To sign up for ACTION, contact Lisa Foss Olson (952-851-2483). To learn more about membership, visit our Become a Member page.

Vaccines—Estimating accurate number of doses needed and new CDC LTC toolkit

By Doug Beardsley | December 31, 2020 | All providers

Two items of importance regarding COVID-19 vaccinations were recently released:

Staff at the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA.NCAL) have heard feedback from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) that hospitals and long-term care facilities are significantly overestimating the number of people expected to be vaccinated. This is being attributed to a variety of things, including last-minute decisions to stagger staff, poor estimates, or staff backing out at the last minute. This results in the pharmacies thawing too many vaccines, which must be used within six hours, and states scrambling to reallocate to other priority groups before they expire.

If you are participating in the pharmacy partnership program, your matched pharmacy (CVS/Walgreens/LTC pharmacy) will call you a few days before the clinic to confirm the number of people to be vaccinated—it is very important providers accurately estimate the number of people to be vaccinated at this time to avoid any wastage. If there are any changes to that estimate communicate this to your matched pharmacy partner as soon as possible. We recommend the following:

Timely surveys (within 2-3 days of the clinic) of staff and residents to determine how many plan to take the vaccine
- Frequent and regular communication on vaccine benefits and safety up until the clinic date
- For ideas, resources and collateral, visit AHCA/NCAL’s “#GetVaccinated” website
- Also check out CDC’s “Long-Term Care Facility Toolkit: Preparing for COVID-19 Vaccination at Your Facility”
Materials (handouts, posters, lawn signs, etc.) on the day of the clinic emphasizing the importance of vaccination
- AHCA/NCAL ”Infection Control Post-Vaccine”
- AHCA/NCAL ”Facts and Myths One-Pager”
- CDC COVID-19 vaccine posters and stickers
Celebratory items on the day of the vaccine to encourage staff to get vaccinated. 
- AHCA/NCAL Social Media Toolkit
- AHCA/NCAL Graphics
  - #GetVaccinated
  - #GotVaccinated
- CDC COVID-19 vaccine posters and stickers

The CDC has released their long-term care facility (LTCF) toolkit; the toolkit is meant as a resource for explaining COVID-19 vaccination to both residents and staff in LTCFs. It includes resources for talking with staff, residents, and families, FAQs on the vaccines, and tips on how to prepare staff and vaccine safety monitoring and reporting.

Doug Beardsley | Vice President of Member Services | dbeardsl@careproviders.org | 952-851-2489

About Care Providers of Minnesota

Care Providers of Minnesota is a non-profit membership association with the mission to Empower Members to Performance Excellence. Our 900+ members across Minnesota represent non-profit and for-profit organizations providing services along the full spectrum of post-acute care and long-term services and support. We are the state affiliate for the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living, and with our national partners we provide solutions for quality care.

Become a Member

As a member of Care Providers of Minnesota, you will join with fellow professionals across the state who understand the importance of working together to the benefit of the entire long-term care profession. The strength of our membership has established our place as one of the state’s leading trade associations.