FAQ #48: January 13, 2021 – Containing Answers from January 12th
Answers to staff questions on COVID-19 testing and vaccination
The following FAQs were adapted from questions submitted by VNSNY staff for the CEO Conference Calls hosted by Marki Flannery on Tuesday, January 12th.
COVID-19 Vaccination
Q. I want to salute and commend our management and those involved for a well-organized vaccination of our staff. I received my vaccine, and everything is good so far. Thanks for a job well done.
A. Well, thank you for sharing your feedback with us. I appreciate it and the team that has worked really hard, I’m sure, appreciates it as well.
Q. Are the vaccines made with blood products or are they free of all blood products like plasma? Because of my religious belief, I don’t take anything that contains blood products.
A. Tony Dawson, Vice President for Quality and Customer Experience. There are absolutely no blood products in the vaccines. These are completely synthetic so it’s perfectly safe for you to get the vaccine. Again, no blood products or no plasma in the vaccine.
Q. Is allergy medicine safe to take before the vaccine, such as Zyrtec nose spray?
A. Tony Dawson: Yes. There is absolutely no contraindication to you taking your regular medications before you take the vaccine. Just let the vaccinator know that you take those when you come in to do your consent.
Q. What protocols are in place just in case a person does have a reaction? What’s on hand in terms of equipment, oxygen, et cetera?
A. Tony Dawson: So, we’re following all of the state requirements around emergency equipment for vaccinators. So, we have emergency equipment in each of the rooms including EpiPens, which are probably the most useful thing in the event of any type of reaction. We do not have oxygen on site as we do not have the ability to do that. But we do have all of the equipment as required by New York State and every vaccinator is also required to be CPR certified.
Q. Are you aware of any restrictions on the timing of the vaccine for those who have had COVID-19? I heard in California that people should wait 90 days after they recover from COVID prior to getting the vaccine. I realize that the rules vary by state and wonder if you have any information on this?
*Note: The clinical team provided this response after the call.
A. Right now the CDC has not made a recommendation on the minimum time a person who has had COVID-19 should wait before receiving the Moderna vaccine. However, current evidence suggests that reinfection is uncommon in the 90 days after initial infection. So, if you have had COVID-19, you can wait 90 days from the date you learned of your infection before getting the vaccine. But you don’t have to wait those 90 days if you don’t want to. If you would prefer to get vaccinated sooner, send an email to [email protected] to make an appointment once you have finished your isolation period and you are asymptomatic.
Q. If you had COVID, Dr. Fauci said to wait 90 days. Is he wrong?
*Note: The clinical team provided this response after the call.
A. As mentioned above, current evidence suggests that reinfection is uncommon in the 90 days after initial infection, so you can wait 90 days before getting the vaccine if you prefer. If not, you can send an email to [email protected] to make an appointment.
Q. If we don’t take the vaccine now, can we take in the future?
A. Andria Castellanos, Chief of Provider Services: Yes, as long as we keep offering it, if you don’t take it now, you can take it in the future.
Marki Flannery: But there may be a point where we no longer have access to the vaccine. So, I think that’s important to keep in mind. You know we’re getting it now but once we are no longer able to vaccinate, we just may not get it. And I’m sure there will be other places for people to get it but right now, we do have a supply and it would be good to have people take it. There’s always a chance we won’t have it in the future.
Andria Castellanos: That’s correct, Marki. Right now, we have sufficient supply of vaccines for all of our employees as Marki mentioned in her opening remarks. We have 1,500 appointments through the end of this month and can create more if necessary. So, appointments are not the problem. And if you decide today that you want to think about it for a few more days, you can schedule it in the future. But don’t wait too long because we don’t know how long we’re going to have the supply from the City.
Q. When will general staff be eligible to get the vaccine through VNSNY?
A. So, that is dependent on New York State relaxing the requirements. Right now, we are able to provide vaccine to all direct care staff and employees who are age 75 and older. It’s moving quicker than we thought. Initially, it was a pretty restrictive and now the 75 and older category has been added. So, I’m hopeful that the availability to other staff will happen soon. We just don’t know, as it is New York State that needs to make that determination, and we’re not able to provide it until we get clarity from the State.
Q. I am an RN working from home. When do I request an appointment for a vaccine?
A. Andria, would you like to take this? So, this is a clinician, but they are not a directly facing patient clinician.
Andria Castellanos: So, I’m not sure what this person does. It sounds like this person does not go out into the field. So, today we are vaccinating all of our staff that go out into the field. So, this person, sounds like they work from home 100% of the time. We will let them know — we’ll communicate on these calls and in other ways — when we are allowed to release additional staff in terms of prioritizing.
Marki Flannery: I agree. Based on the role that this person is in, they are currently not eligible for the vaccine. But hopefully we will get to that, similar to the person that asked about general staff. Once the State gives permission, we will be able to make it available.
Andria Castellanos: Marki, I just want to say, we are looking every day at the categories that are being released by the Governor. And every day, we are looking to see which of our staff members can be released into that category where they’re eligible for vaccine. So, this is happening on really a minute-by-minute basis. As soon as the Governor says, for example, you can vaccinate all of your staff that are 75 years old, we look to see who those people are and then we put them in the priority and they’re able to make an appointment. So, we are really looking every day at this information.
Q. Are you holding back the 2nd dose for our employees who get the 1st dose? If not, are there concerns about getting more supply to do so?
A. So, as this point, we are not concerned about getting the supply. When we give the 1st dose, we schedule staff for the 2nd dose. We have not given a 2nd dose because we’ve only been providing the vaccine for under a week. So, no one has hit the 30-day mark yet. As long as we continue to utilize the vaccine, we expect that we will continue to receive vaccine on a weekly basis, and we should be able to provide the second dose to our employees. If something changes in the State and our supply becomes limited, we will let staff know. But at this point, we are operating under the assumption that we will be giving the second dose 28 days after the 1st dose was provided.
Q. Will vaccines be available at other locations, or will employees have to go to 220?
A. Because of the stringent nature in which we have to maintain the vaccine and document and report, all vaccinations are being done here at our 220 East 42nd Street location on the third floor. People can arrange to get vaccination in the various boroughs. The City is opening hubs throughout the City so you can make an appointment and get it directly there. We ask anyone who gets the vaccine outside of VNSNY, to please let us know and to send us a copy of the vaccination card that you receive at the time that you get the vaccine so that we have documentation on your vaccination status.
Q. What if you contract COVID after the 1st dose? How long will you have to wait for the 2nd dose, or do you have to start all over again?
A. Tony Dawson: So, remember the 1st dose is the start of the vaccination and the 2nd dose is the booster dose to give you the longer-term protection. So, if you got the 1st dose and you contracted COVID, then you would get the 2nd dose as scheduled provided that you had recovered enough in that 28 days to get the 2nd dose. But we’d also ask you to connect with your provider with what happens with you during your COVID course. So, basically you really don’t have to start all over again, but we would have to think past the 2nd dose and the timing of that based on your signs and symptoms.
Q. If a Home Health Aide worked in healthcare and decides to get the vaccine with another company, is it possible that the aged spouse can get the vaccine instead?
A. Unfortunately, we are only able to provide the vaccine to our employees and not to their family members. If that changes, if the State relaxes that in the hope of getting more and more people vaccinated, then we can let our team know but right now, we are only able to vaccinate our own employees.
Q. I am looking at a nyc.gov website for COVID-19 vaccine and it states, “people age of 65 and older are eligible.” Are we following State or City guidelines?
A. Andria Castellanos: We have been monitoring this and I think this just came in within the last 30 minutes. We will confirm. We have already looked at how many of our employees are age 65 or over. We have that list. As soon as we have a confirmation that we’re allowed to do that, we’ll move that group to the priority group. And we will start to have your schedulers reach out to you to schedule the appointments. So, again, I think this just came within the last 30 minutes. So, we’ll confirm that, and we’ll move quickly on that.
Marki Flannery: Great. That’s good news and I’m not surprised. I think we’re going to see it become available quicker and quicker.
COVID-19 Testing
Q. I had a rapid test done because I was so sick, but the results were negative. What’s the percentage of false test results?
A. Remember, you can be sick with the flu and or some other healthcare condition that has nothing to do with COVID-19. My understanding from a recent call we had with Dr. Dobkin is that the rapid test is extremely effective in its reporting of accurate results. I don’t have the percentage offhand. I don’t know if Tony or Andria or anyone else on the line if you do?
Andria Castellanos: Marki, the Rapid Test is an extremely good test, particularly if you’re symptomatic. I believe, Tony, you can correct me if I’m wrong. I think it’s close to 94 or 95% effective for people who are symptomatic. Is that your understanding, Tony?
Tony Dawson: Yes. That’s my understanding and again, it depends on the type of rapid test. I don’t know if you had the rapid test done here but there are different types of rapid tests that are out there. So, it also depends on the manufacturer and where you had the test. But remember you can always have false negatives with those tests too. These are just tools that are in our toolkit.
Andria Castellanos: I would also say that if this person is still concerned, they should call their doctor. And it’s very likely their doctor would tell them to go for a PCR test, which is a different kind of test that has a higher accuracy rate. So, that’s what I would recommend.