COVID-19 Vaccine

COVID-19 resources:

Excess COVID-19 vaccines?

• Complete COVID-19 Excess Vaccines form to notify PHN of excess COVID-19 available for transfer.

COVID-19 reference documents

Following the conclusion of the CVTP training platform, two reference documents are available to support providers :

• The COVID-19 Vaccine Reference Guide – contains information on storage, handling and administration of COVID-19 vaccines.
• The COVID-19 Vaccination Training Program (CVTP) contains all 18 modules of the former CVTP and their associated resources.

In case you missed anything, catch up on all the latest immunisation news:

COVID-19 NEWS:

COVID-19 Cold Chain Breach (CCB) Reporting Form

• Submit an online Cold Chain Breach  COVID-19 CCB reporting form
• Email to the Vaccine Operations Centre (VOC) on COVID19VaccineOperationsCentre@Health.gov.au

Steps to follow for a potential Cold Chain Breach (CCB)

All vaccines involved in a potential CCB, either within the clinical setting or during transit, must be reported to the Vaccine Operations Centre (VOC) as soon as possible.

1. Place any affected vaccines in quarantine, secured within the appropriate cold chain storage requirements (2 to 8 DEGREE for refrigerated doses).
2. Mark stock as ‘Do not use, Do not discard’
   Report the potential CCB to the VOC by emailing the completed Cold Chain Breach Reporting Form along with any temperature data to covid19vaccineoperationscentre@health.gov.au.
3. Wait for the outcome of the assessment and advice on whether the vaccines are safe to use.

Do not use or discard the vaccines until you have been advised to do so.

If you require assistance, the VOC can be contacted on 1800 318 208 during operating hours, 9.00am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday (AEST).

COVID-19 vaccine administration errors

ATAGI guidelines on the management of a range of possible vaccine administration errors, including when a replacement (repeat) dose is recommended.

Don’t forget to check – Poster

Advice on Vaccine Errors

Advice relating to patient:

• • Open disclosure of the incident to the patient/parents of the patient.
  • Inform patient of any expected side effects and possible remedies to help with side effects.
  • Arrange follow up appointment for patient with GP – mainly as a health check, but also to maintaining the GP/patient relationship.
  • Give the Patient/Parents HCCC contact details in case they want to report a complaint:
    • Email: hccc@hccc.nsw.gov.au
    • Telephone: 02 92197444 open 09:00am to 18:00pm Monday to Friday

Advice relating to practice:

• • • Usual incident reporting process within the practice
    • Inform the practice Insurer
    • Review practice policies/process to avoid error in future
    • Send an error report to Vaccine Operations Centre (VOC)
      • Phone: 1800 318 208
      • Email: COVID19VaccineOperationsCentre@Health.gov.au

Clinical advice:

• Send patient to ED if patient clinical unwell

1. • Call NSWISS (Specialist Immunisation Clinic) if clinical advice re patient symptoms is required
     • Email: SCHN-NSWISS@health.nsw.gov.au
     • Phone: 1800679477 or 98451414
   • Report AEFI if patients has symptoms – download the AEFI TGA Reporting Form
   • For accidental overdose see below.

Accidental overdose

1. If an accidental overdose occurs, it is recommended to observe vital signs and, if symptomatic, to treat the symptoms. There are no specific overdose symptoms to be aware of.
2. Follow the above Advice on Vaccine Errors – This error must be recorded through your normal jurisdictional medication error reporting systems.
3. For more information, the Poisons Information Centre may be contacted on 131 126.

Revaccination following vaccine error

If an error has occurred during vaccine preparation or vaccine administration, resulting in an inadequate two-dose primary course, another dose may be recommended. The aim of replacement doses is to attain a level of immune response that is comparable to that expected following completion of a two-dose primary course of a COVID-19 vaccine according to the recommended dosage and schedule (ATAGI, 2021u).

What is vaccine wastage?

Vaccine wastage refers to the loss of vaccine doses due to cold chain breaches, expired vials or other damage.

How do you dispose of COVID-19 vaccines?

The COVID-19 Vaccination Training gives details on how to dispose of vaccines:

• Prior to disposal, the outer packaging (carton) should be defaced by striking through at least one panel of the carton with a sharpie or similar marker.
• Any unused vaccine or waste material should be disposed of in accordance with local requirements in a clinical waste bin – vials must be disposed of in the provided sharps container to ensure they cannot be accessed.

Reporting requirements for vaccine wastage:

Remember to notify wastage to the Vaccine Operations Centre (VOC) through the COVID-19 Vaccine Administrative System (CVAS):

• wastage less than 5 vials should be reported in your “Vaccine Stock Management Report”
• wastage of 5 vias and over should also be reported within the “Wastage Report”
• wastage “incidents” (e.g. damaged vials or breach of cold chain requirements), of 5 vials and over must be reported immediately (within 2 hours of the incident occurring) by calling the VOC on 1800 318 208

Shelf life extension

Pfizer 12+ shelf-life extension – some batches of Pfizer with manufacturer expiry 28 Feb 2022 have had their shelf life extended. Check information sheet before discarding vials.

COVID-19 vaccine administration errors

ATAGI guidelines on the management of a range of possible vaccine administration errors, including when a replacement (repeat) dose is recommended.

Sedation for vaccination

ATAGI advice on use of sedation for COVID-19 vaccination provides an overview of the use of sedation as one of a range of measures to assist in the safe administration of COVID-19 vaccines, in patients with anxiety disorders or needle-phobia.

Appointment Translation

The NSW Multicultural Health Communication Service’s online Appointment Reminder Translation Tool allows you to translate appointment details into your client’s language.

COVID-19 care in the community

Please refer to HealthPathways for the current definitions of low, medium and high risk. These definitions will be frequently updated and will differ between the two LHDs

Transfer of vaccines

• Transfer of COVID-19 vaccines between participating primary care vaccination sites
• Too much COVID-19 vaccine stock? Can’t use up vaccines before defrost expiry? Complete COVID-19 Excess Vaccines form to notify PHN of excess COVID-19 available for transfer.
• Need more COVID-19 vaccine stock? Delivery delays? Not enough supply? Email immunisation@cesphn.com.au for assistance with accessing emergency vaccine supplies.

COVID-19 vaccine brand that is not available in Australia

• International COVID-19 vaccines recognised by Australia

ATAGI advice People who have received either a first dose or a full course of a COVID-19 vaccine that is not TGA-approved or TGA-recognised should be offered two doses of an alternative TGA-approved vaccine brand available in Australia to be considered fully vaccinated. People should begin their full course of a TGA-approved or recognised COVID-19 vaccination at an interval of 4 to 12 weeks after their most recent COVID-19 vaccine dose.

ATAGI

• Clinical Guidance: 
  ATAGI clinical guidance on COVID-19 vaccine in Australia in 2021

• Multi-dose vials:
  ATAGI guidance on the use of multi-dose vials for COVID-19 vaccination
• Invalid Doses:
  ATAGI guidance on replacement doses for invalid primary courses of COVID-19 vaccines

• Medical Exemptions:
  ATAGI guidance on temporary medical exemptions for COVID-19 vaccines

• Third Dose: for severely immunocompromised
  ATAGI recommendations on the use of a third primary dose of COVID-19 vaccine

• Additional Doses: 
  ATAGI statement about the need for additional doses of COVID-19 vaccine

• Drive-through clinics:
  ATAGI statement on drive-through COVID-19 vaccination clinic sites
• ATAGI clinical advice resources

Mixed (heterologous) schedules

• ATAGI recommends completing the vaccination course with the same vaccine. Mixed schedules using 2 different vaccines to complete the primary vaccination course are only recommended in special circumstances See page 17 – ATAGI Clinical Guidance

• Clinical advice on the use of a different COVID-19 vaccine as the second dose
• Vaccines Approved for Use by WHO

Consent

• Patient consent form for COVID-19 vaccination
• Consent information for providers: COVID-19 vaccination consent and FAQs
• Consent for COVID-19 Vaccination FAQ – Parents and Guardians

CVAS Order Management | User guide

• CVAS User Guide for COVID-19 vaccination sites – Dept of Health
  • How to complete registration – please email COVID19VaccineOperationsCentre@Health.gov.au to register as a COVID vaccination site
  • How to submit a delivery acceptance
  • How to submit a stock management report
  • How to submit a wastage report

Update vaccine access in CVAS

Practices can submit a request to access to more vaccine products within CVAS. Check current access via the ‘View Existing Vaccine Access’ button which lists a summary of all vaccine products the site is currently approved to order.

How to submit a request to update vaccine access:

1. log into the CVAS portal,
2. navigate to the ‘Manage Account’ tab and
3. click the ‘Update Vaccine Access’ button and follow the prompts.

Multicultural communication materials

Translated resources 

• COVID-19 vaccines: common questions (other languages)
• COVID-19 information in your language – Department of Health
• Further information for multicultural groups on our Coronavirus page

• COVID-19 vaccination resources in other languages – Department of Health
• COVID-19 resource language list – NSW Health
• COVID-19 Glossary in language – NSW Health Multicultural Health Communications Service

Supporting communication for the COVID-19 vaccination program – This glossary was developed to help community organisations, translators and interpreters, bilingual workers, and community leaders to better understand and communicate about vaccine development and implementation.

COVID-19 communication materials

Information for teens/kids

• How to speak to kids about COVID-19 vaccines
• COVID-19 vaccine information for teens and parents/guardians

Guidance to help people make informed decisions

• Shared decision making guide for women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or planning pregnancy
• Shared decision making guide for frail older people, including those in residential aged care facilities
• Shared decision making guide for people with immunocompromise
• Shared decision making guide for people receiving palliative care or end-of-life care

Information for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

• COVID-19 vaccination – Common questions (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples)
• Talking to patients about COVID-19 vaccines (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples)

Medical exemptions for COVID-19 vaccines

• ATAGI Guidance on temporary medical exemptions for COVID-19 vaccines
• DOH Immunisation medical exemptions

• Record directly on AIR: Record an immunisation exemption on the AIR – valid immunisation medical exemptions recorded on the AIR will appear on a patient’s AIR Immunisation History Statement.

• Submit a form to AIR: AIR immunisation medical exemption form (IM011) – all COVID-19 brands must be selected on the form, it may take a few weeks to appear on a patient’s AIR Immunisation History Statement

• Who can provide immunisation medical exemptions? General practitioners, paediatricians, clinical immunologists, infectious disease, general or public health physicians, gynaecologists or obstetricians.

Addressing vaccine hesitancy

Tool to address vaccine concerns: CoRiCal

Covid Risk Calculator (CoRiCal)

• What is my chance of getting COVID-19?
• If I get COVID-19, what are my chances of dying?
• What is my chance of getting myocarditis?
• What is my chance of dying from myocarditis?

Understanding and addressing vaccine hesitancy

• Webinar: Vaccine hesitancy and practice efficiencies – RACGP
• Decision aid: Should I get the COVID-19 vaccine? – NCIRS
• Barriers and facilitators to COVID-19 vaccine acceptance – NCIRS

Resources to address vaccine hesitancy 

• Is it true? Your questions answered – Department of Health
• COVID-19 vaccine safety surveillance – AusVaxSafety

Communication tools to address vaccine hesitancy

• A practitioner’s guide to the principles of COVID-19 vaccine communications – University of Florida
• Clinical communication skills and strategies to assist immunisation consultations – SKAI e-learning
• Talking to parents about the COVID vaccine – NPS podcast
• Why telling stories could be more powerful than just the facts – The Conversation article
• COVID-19 vaccines and their long-term safety – Australian Academy of Science

COVID-19 exposure

NSW Health is currently responding to a number of COVID-19 outbreaks all across NSW. Healthcare workers are at high risk of exposure to COVID-19.

• Health Care Worker COVID-19 Risk Assessment Matrix
  • Vaccinated staff
  • Unvaccinated staff

• Community and workplace settings: Contact risk assessment will enable businesses to assess workplace risk if a COVID-19 case is identified, and confirm actions to be taken

• Cleaning post COVID-19 positive case: Guidelines

COVID-19 Safety Plan

The following guides should be adapted to suit your practices procedures and workflows:

• NSW Health COVID-19 Safety Plan – for feneral practice and other primary health service providers

• RACGP COVID Safety Plan template – to help practices comply with current requirements for businesses operating during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• RACGP Keeping your practice COVID-safe Checklist

• COVID-19 risk assessment guide for PPE selection for direct care of patients

Support Contacts 

Need support? See COVID-19 Q&A April 2020

NSWISS clinical Support: NSW Immunisation Specialist Service

• Email: SCHN-NSWISS@health.nsw.gov.au

VOC: Vaccine Operations Centre

• Phone: 1800 318 208
• Email: COVID19VaccineOperationsCentre@Health.gov.au

VCF connect

• Vaccine Clinic Finder
• Vaccine Clinic Finder Connect
• Phone: 1800 316 375
• Email: CV19.Products@health.gov.au

CVAS: COVID-19 Vaccine Ordering System

• Login: CVAS website

Department of Health COVID-19 support: 

• Phone: 1800 020 080 (National Coronavirus Hotline)
• Submit enquiry online
• Email covidvaccineenquiries@health.gov.au

Translating service

• For translating and interpreting services, call 131 450.

• Sydney Local Health District COVID-19 Vaccination Program hotline on 1800 955 566

• Email Sydney LHD: SLHD-COVIDVaxRegistration@health.nsw.gov.au

• Email South Easter Sydney LHD: SESLHD-COVID19StaffVaccination@health.nsw.gov.au

GPRC support

• GPRC Hotline: 02 6289 8822

CESPHN COVID-19 support:

• Email coronavirus@cesphn.com.au or EOI-COVIDVaccine@cesphn.com.au
• Call 1300 986 991