| Outpatient Treatment for High-Risk Kids with COVID-19 Dr. Sara Vora, Associate Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Seattle Children’s Hospital has outlined outpatient treatment options for high risk kids with COVID-19 in the attached slides. The definition of high risk kids includes unvaccinated kids with severe obesity. We hope this information will be helpful as you care for children with COVID-19 in your community. Thanks to Dr. Vora for sharing this resource! Changes to Immunization Requirements for Transitional Kindergarten/Pre-schools We want to alert you to changes in the requirements for 4-5-year-olds attending transitional kindergartens and pre-schools in the Fall of 2022. In the updated requirements, the Department of Health applied the requirements for preschool and Transitional Kindergarten based on the child’s age on September 1st of the school year. Children in these grades who are four years old at the start of the school year will need the booster doses of DTaP, IPV, MMR and Varicella. They will also need PCV and Hib until they reach age 5. What this means for your patients: those children attending preschool or transitional kindergarten in the Fall of 2022 will need their “kindergarten” boosters as soon as they turn 4 years old, so they are ready September 1st.Children who turn 4 years old after September 1 do not need to meet the transitional kindergarten/preschool requirements for 4-year-olds until the next school year. We realize that this may be a logistical problem for those caring for this preschool group – either because the child turns 4 in the summer and there is limited time to get them into the office, or because their WCC appointments were already done for this year, and they are not due again until next year. The WCAAP Vaccine Committee did communicate with DOH the potential barriers Pediatricians may encounter getting vaccines done by age 4, and we will work to share ideas on “how to” implement this over the next few months. New Temperature Log Requirement for COVID-19 Vaccine Program After much thought and brainstorming with partners, the COVID-19 Vaccine Program has decided to implement a new temperature log requirement for all enrolled providers. This will require providers to begin documenting their temperatures on paper temperature logs March 1, 2022 and begin submitting those temperature logs on April 1, 2022. This will be a monthly requirement moving forward in order to receive COVID Vaccine. This was a hard decision for the program to make because we do not want providers to be burdened with another process to follow when they are already doing so much, but we do want to ensure the public is receiving safe and effective vaccines. When storage units experience out of range temperatures, it can cause the vaccine to be less effective. If the out of range temperatures are not identified and responded to immediately, it can result in needing to revaccinate. Currently, providers are required to check and document their temperatures daily. We believe the added step of turning in those temperature logs to DOH monthly will help us identify temperature excursions, provide training on proper temperature documentation, and provide a level of accountability that is needed for public confidence. We plan to use the same CDC temperature logs that providers are currently using for this process. Examples of those temperature logs are below for review. Ultra-Cold: Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine: Temperature Log for Ultra-Cold Vaccine Storage (Celsius) (cdc.gov) Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine: Temperature Log for Ultra-Cold Vaccine Storage (Fahrenheit) (cdc.gov) Frozen: Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine: Temperature Log for Frozen Vaccine Storage (Celsius) (cdc.gov) Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine: Temperature Log for Frozen Vaccine Storage (Farenheit) (cdc.gov) Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine • 12 Years of Age and Older (Purple Cap) • Temperature Log for Frozen Vaccine Storage (Celsius) (cdc.gov) Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine: 12 Years of Age and Older (Purple Cap) • Temperature Log for Frozen Vaccine Storage (Fahrenheit) (cdc.gov) Refrigerated: COVID-19 Vaccine COVID-19 Vaccine: Temperature Log for Refrigerator Vaccine Storage (Fahrenheit) (cdc.gov) COVID-19 Vaccine COVID-19 Vaccine: Temperature Log for Refrigerator Vaccine Storage (Celsius) (cdc.gov) |