To help combat the potential “twindemic” of both flu and COVID-19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has made 9,354,970 doses of flu vaccine available to state and local public health agencies. Community health centers that pre-ordered flu vaccines have been allocated 3,697,470 of these doses. CDC started distributing the doses in November and will continue through January 2021.   Being ready and able to distribute an increased amount of flu vaccines in this COVID-19 environment will improve health center capacity to nimbly provide a COVID-19 vaccine when it is available. This is especially important as this vaccine will potentially have universal demand, limited initial stock, multiple dose requirements, and several suppliers.

NOW IS THE TIME FOR HEALTH CENTERS AND PRIMARY CARE ASSOCIATIONS TO ACT

• Focus on flu vaccination policies, systems, documentation, and workflows • Partner with your public health department for free flu doses • Use free government-supplied flu doses before purchasing additional doses • Document in an immunization information system (IIS)  • Engage vaccine hesitant populations • Leverage Primary Care Association (PCA) and Health Center Controlled Network (HCCN) communication tools for care teams and communities • Work with NACHC and/or Association of Immunization Managers (AIM) to collaborate with public health immunization managers to host a webinar, podcast, or joint presentation at clinical meetings • Enroll to become a COVID-19 vaccine provider through the public health department. Enrollment information can be found in jurisdictional interim plans posted on state public health department websites. Contact your health department immunization program manager here. • Find resources from NACHC and AIM here

MULTI-STATE QUALITY IMPROVEMENT EFFORT

Use of NACHC’s Data Dictionary and COVID-19 Health Center Registry to Tackle A Data Collection and Analysis Challenge As part of the Multi-State Quality Improvement project with CDC, NACHC is building a health information technology (HIT) infrastructure to support public health data aggregation and analytics including a cloud-based registry and structured data dictionary. Partners are providing deidentified, patient-level data about patient risks, outcomes, and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Read more A range of local data is collected and includes: • Diagnoses (exposures/confirmed and clinical infection) • Comorbidities (pre-existing conditions/past medical-surgical history/problem list) • Signs and symptoms data related to COVID-19 • COVID-19 laboratory tests (i.e., number of COVID-19 tests and COVID-19 positive rates) • Immunizations (flu, COVID-19 [when available]) • Interventions and case management data for COVID-19 positive patients • Administrative and encounter data - Visit types (in-person or telehealth) - Financials - PPE inventory

CRISIS BUSINESS CONTINUITY PLANNING

The Importance of Crisis Business Continuity Planning as Health Centers Head into 2021 With the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic combined with cold and flu season and an anticipated COVID-19 vaccine rollout in 2021, it is critical for health centers to have Crisis Business Continuity Plans ready to activate. “The whole point of a Crisis Business Continuity Plan is to protect the normal operations of an organization,” says Gervean Williams, NACHC’s Director, Health Center Financial Training.

MONTHLY RESOURCES

Influenza Vaccine Readiness in an Era of COVID-19: Reflections from Community Health Center Leaders Published by NACHC, this document reflects a summary of interviews with a diverse group of health center and PCA leaders engaged in quality improvement efforts directed toward flu immunization coverage. Issues explored include flu vaccine efforts, changes to care related to the pandemic, preparations for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, and prioritization of flu campaigns. Vaccine Confidence Postcards and Social Media Images Vaccine Confidence postcards and Facebook and Twitter images are now available from AIM. These media materials are free, and postcards can be customizable with a health center’s logo. Click here to download.

CDC Pandemic Vaccine Program Distribution Tracking and Monitoring Infographic This infographic provides health centers with an overview of how the CDC will scale up existing vaccine distribution, tracking monitoring, and systems during a pandemic.  Vaccine coverage will be monitored by jurisdiction-based IIS and national surveys. National, regional, and local level data will inform decision making priorities and outreach. To read the infographic and learn more click here.

UPCOMING NACHC LEARNING EVENT

Join us for the third and final webinar of NACHC’s three-part national webinar series, Looking Over the Horizon, to help strengthen the capacity of health centers as they respond, recover, and reimagine care while addressing the challenging and changing realities of the COVID-19 pandemic. Topics include: Business Continuity and Planning Data Fundamentals and Insights from the Multi-state Quality Improvement Effort Promising Practice Models During COVID-19

This publication is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $2,000,000, with 100 percent funded by CDC/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CDC/HHS, or the U.S. Government.

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