COVID Update #232 
Update on Third Clinic Vaccine Policy

CDC’s Long-Term Care (LTC) Pharmacy Partnership Program provides three COVID-19 vaccination clinics for LTC facilities enrolled in the program. As many LTC facilities are closing in on their third clinic, questions have arisen whether residents and staff will be able to receive a first dose of the vaccine at the third and final clinic. AHCA/NCAL has been actively working with CDC, CVS, and Walgreens on this issue. 

CDC policy is to optimize vaccine access for residents and staff, which means delivering the first dose of either vaccine at the third clinic. However, the pharmacies will defer to state/jurisdictional guidance. So, if your state health department decides not to allow first doses at the third clinic in all cases, for example, the pharmacy will follow that guidance.  

If residents and staff receive the first dose of the vaccine at the third clinic, it’s important to determine how they will access the second dose. For assistance in securing the second dose on behalf of staff or residents, providers should: 

  • Contact their state public health department for more information on vaccine availability. 

  • Call on of the retail pharmacies involved in the CDC’s Federal Retail Pharmacy Program. Retail pharmacies participating in the program vary by state and territory, visit the CDC website to find out which pharmacies are participating in your state. 

If you are in a state that is delivering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine through the Pharmacy Partnership, it will be more challenging to access a second dose due to the unique cold chain storage requirements. If all potential options for administering the second dose have been exhausted, clinical leadership may consider the following:  

  • Counseling residents to finish the vaccine series using the Moderna vaccine. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends: 

  • ​“In exceptional situations in which the first-dose vaccine product cannot be determined or is no longer available, any available mRNA COVID-19 vaccine may be administered at a minimum interval of 28 days between doses to complete the mRNA COVID-19 vaccination series.” ​ 

Delay timing of the second dose administration up to 6 weeks (42) days. CDC guidance dictates that in situations where it is not feasible to adhere to the recommended interval (21 days for Pfizer and 28 days for Moderna, the second dose can be administered to 6 weeks (42 days) after the first.
Other COVID-19 Updates

Congress Enacts Changes to Employee Retention Credit: Congress recently enacted changes to the employee retention credit that was first created by the CARES Act as a means to help certain employers impacted by the pandemic. Read More

Federal Retail Pharmacy Program Launches February 11: Beginning on February 11, eligible individuals will have the opportunity to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at select pharmacies across the country through the Federal Retail Pharmacy Program. Read More

CMS Alert on Medicare Fraud: Last week, CMS released an email update focused on Medicare fraud. Read More

LTC Trend Tracker Launches New COVID-19 Dashboard for all LTC Trend Tracker Users: The LTC Trend Tracker COVID-19 dashboard is an online web resource that AHCA/NCAL members can access to find important data related to COVID, their buildings, and the community. Read More

Organizations Call on CMS to Ease Medicare Enrollment During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Last week, the Medicare Rights Center and 49 state and national organizations, including AHCA/NCAL, urged CMS to reinstate two policies to help people sign up for Medicare amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Read More

BD Requests Feedback for Survey on Long Term Care Provider Testing: BD is seeking feedback from long term care providers on their experiences with COVID-19 testing through this brief survey. Read More
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Thank you.

We cannot thank you enough for the dedication and diligence in doing all that you can for the residents in your communities. HFAM continues to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic with our state and national partners and will do all we can to support you during this time.