Vaccination Update
Save the Date: LeadingAge NY to Present Free Webinar on Successful Long Term Care Staff Vaccination Uptake
LeadingAge NY/Foundation for Long Term Care (FLTC) will present a FREE webinar entitled Successful Strategies to Promote Vaccination Among Long Term Care Staff on Tues., June 29th from 1 to 3 p.m. Join us to learn about strategies your facility can put into practice to improve COVID-19 vaccination rates of your long term care staff members. Save the date – registration will be opening soon!
Funded by a generous grant from the Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, this free, live webinar is an opportunity to earn two hours of National Association of Long Term Care Administrator Boards (NAB) and Adult Care Facility (ACF) credit.
Questions can be directed to Cathy Bongermino at cbongermino@leadingageny.org.
EEOC Confirms Employers Can Mandate COVID-19 Vaccine
Recently, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) posted updated and expanded technical assistance related to the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing questions arising under federal EEO laws. The EEOC press release announcing the guidance is available here. The guidance covers issues relating to COVID-19 vaccinations, mandatory vaccination policies by an employer, and incentives offered by employers. Members should refer to Section K regarding vaccinations in the technical assistance document.
- Federal EEO laws do not prevent an employer from requiring all employees physically entering the workplace to be vaccinated for COVID-19, so long as employers comply with the reasonable accommodation provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other EEO considerations. Other laws, not in EEOC’s jurisdiction, may place additional restrictions on employers.
- Federal EEO laws do not prevent or limit employers from offering incentives to employees to voluntarily provide documentation or other confirmation of vaccination obtained from a third party (not the employer) in the community, such as a pharmacy, personal health care provider, or public clinic. If employers choose to obtain vaccination information from their employees, employers must keep vaccination information confidential pursuant to the ADA.
- Employers that are administering vaccines to their employees may offer incentives for employees to be vaccinated, as long as the incentives are not coercive. Because vaccinations require employees to answer pre-vaccination disability-related screening questions, a very large incentive could make employees feel pressured to disclose protected medical information.
J&J Vaccine Shelf Life Extended
On June 10th, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized an extension of the shelf life of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J)/Janssen single-shot COVID-19 vaccine from 3 months to 4.5 months (an additional 6 weeks). The decision is based on data from ongoing stability assessment studies, which have demonstrated that the vaccine is stable at 4.5 months when refrigerated at temperatures of 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit (2 to 8 degrees Celsius).
Vaccine providers that have J&J vaccine in storage should visit the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine Product Quality Checker and enter the lot number to confirm the latest expiration dates of vaccine, including those currently available for administration throughout the U.S. This extension applies to refrigerated vials of J&J COVID-19 vaccine that have been held in accordance with the manufacturer’s storage conditions.
Mark the vials and carton with the new date displayed, and also update the date in the New York State Immunization Information System (NYSIIS) or Citywide Immunization Registry (CIR) inventory module. If you have vaccine in storage that expired prior to June 10th, those vials should be disposed of as medical waste and reported as wastage in NYSIIS/CIR (see NYSIIS wastage reporting guidance here and CIR guidance here).
COVID-19 vaccines that are authorized under an emergency use authorization (EUA) do not have fixed expiration dates, and their expiration dates may be extended as the FDA receives and reviews additional stability data. Please be sure to check the manufacturer’s website to obtain the most up-to-date expiration dates for COVID-19 vaccines you have on hand.