MarkeTouch is proud to be your partner and resource for patient engagement. We hope you find this week’s COVID-19 Clinical & Operations Update useful. Thank you for all you do, take care.
V-Safe
V-safe is a smartphone-based tool that uses text messages and web surveys to provide personalized health check-ins after you receive a COVID-19 vaccination. During the first week after you get your vaccine, v-safe will send you a daily text message to ask how you are doing. Then you will get check-in messages once a week for up to 5 weeks. The questions should take less than 5 minutes to answer. Depending on your answers, someone from CDC may call to check on you and get more information. Note: V-safe cannot schedule vaccine appointments, including second doses of COVID-19 vaccines. If you need COVID-19 vaccination scheduling tools for your pharmacy, MarkeTouch can help.
FDA Issues Import Alert on Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizers from Mexico
FDA analyses of alcohol-based hand sanitizers imported from Mexico found 84% of the samples analyzed by the agency from April through December 2020 were not in compliance with FDA’s regulations. Over half were found to contain toxic ingredients including methanol and/or 1-propanol at unacceptable levels. Under the import alert, alcohol-based hand sanitizers from Mexico offered for import are subject to heightened FDA scrutiny, and FDA staff may detain the shipment. This marks the first time the FDA has issued a countrywide import alert for any category of drug product.
mRNA Vaccines Expanded 2nd Dose Window
The CDC has provided updated recommendations on intervals between the first and second dose for the two currently available mRNA vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech). The original recommended intervals (below) still hold.
Pfizer-BioNTech – 3 weeks (17 – 24 days) apart Moderna – 4 weeks (24 – 32 days) apart
However, if it is not feasible to adhere to the recommended interval, the second dose may be scheduled for administration up to 6 weeks (42 days) after the first dose. If the second dose is administered beyond these intervals, there is no need to restart the series.
As a reminder, mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are not interchangeable with each other or with other COVID-19 vaccine products. Both doses of the series should be completed with the same product.
Vaccine Manufacturing Updates
It has been a busy week:
Johnson & Johnson – Has stated it expects results from its one-dose vaccine Phase 3 trial “by early next week”. They also shared they would deliver 100 million doses to the U.S. by the end of June.
Merck – dropped out of the COVID-19 vaccine race, citing ‘inferior’ immune responses.
Pfizer-BioNTech – is teaming up with Sanofi to produce 100 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccine. The first batches are scheduled to be produced from Sanofi’s site in Frankfurt, Germany, by August. Variants and boosters? In a proactive move, Moderna and Pfizer want to test to see if an additional booster dose of the vaccine will ramp up defenses against emerging strains beyond what the current regimen provides. More to come.
MarkeTouch COVID-19 Scheduling Solution
COVID-19 vaccination providers should make every attempt to schedule a patient’s second-dose appointment when they get their first dose.
CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Interim Playbook – 2020
MarkeTouch has been providing a fully hosted, web-based (mobile optimized) appointment scheduling solution since 2010. Currently, 88% of all appointments scheduled, including series vaccines, are completed.
Enhancements have been made to accommodate the dynamic needs of COVID-19 testing and vaccinations, allowing the ability to optimize your operations by customizing appointment availability based on vaccine inventory, staff schedule and vaccine series.
The MarkeTouch COVID-19 Scheduling solution is being used for both in-store and off-site clinics. Eliminate the need for clipboards with customized, mobile-optimized vaccine consent forms as a standalone service or incorporated into the patient appointment scheduling process. Contact MarkeTouch today to learn more about adding the convenience of appointment scheduling to your COVID-19 vaccination strategy.
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