FAQ #49: January 20, 2021 – Containing Answers from January 19th
Answers to Staff Questions on Vaccination and Employee Health and Safety
The following FAQs were adapted from questions submitted by VNSNY staff for the CEO Conference Calls hosted by Marki Flannery on Tuesday, January 19th.
Vaccination
Q. How does an employee get on the list for the end of day leftover vaccination?
A. Andria Castellanos, Chief of Provider Services: So the vaccines come in vials, and the vials have ten doses. Sometimes they have 11 doses, and once in a while, they have 12 doses. And so, at the end of the day, we sometimes have leftover doses. And what we are doing, and you should have received an email about this, is really offering leftover doses to friends and family who meet the eligibility criteria. So the eligibility criteria are essentially for friends and family, anyone over 65.
And we’re asking people who are interested in having their friends and family sign up, to fill out a form. And we have already received, I believe, 90 interested people. We will randomly select among those people the first number of people that we will then call in. And the expectation is they have to come in a number of days in a row, maybe up to seven.
We never know at the end of the day how many doses we’re going to have left. This is really for friends and family who are over 65, who meet the eligibility criteria. We are being very, very careful about, in every instance, meeting the eligibility criteria that the City has set up and the state has set up for us. We could send this person that form, but that would be for friends and family.
If this person meets the criteria, and I don’t know if they do, then they’re eligible for the vaccine right now. When I say the criteria, they’re either field staff or they’re over 65.
Q. If someone has typical COVID signs and symptoms after vaccination, not knowing if the signs and symptoms are from the vaccine or a possible exposure, will they turn positive from the vaccine if tested?
A. So you do not turn positive from the vaccine if you do not have COVID. That’s just to be clear. If someone has typical COVID signs and symptoms after a vaccination, they could get themselves tested to see if they’re COVID positive. But they’re not going to be positive just from having the vaccine. They may be positive because they’re positive.
Q. If I get the COVID-19 vaccine, can I spread the virus?
A. Okay, so I mentioned during my comments that what is recommended is that you continue to wear a mask so that you protect others. Because it’s not clear that if you got COVID-19, that even with the vaccine, you might potentially be spreading the virus
So at this point, it’s early in the learning about how the vaccine is working for people. So everyone is being asked to continue to wear masks. Anything else that anyone wants to add to that?
Andria Castellanos: Marki, the one thing I would add to that is that what we absolutely do know that is if you get the vaccine, there is a very good chance you will not get sick from COVID-19. And that’s what’s really important about the vaccine. Again, what Marki said is what we don’t know yet, because the clinical trials are still ongoing, is if you get the vaccine, can you still be an asymptomatic, meaning you don’t have any symptoms, spreader? And that research is not complete yet. So we encourage everyone to continue practicing social distancing, mask wearing, all the things that we’re recommending, hand hygiene, et cetera, both on and off of work.
Q. I had to decline an appointment for the COVID vaccine when I was offered one because I have antibodies. And I would like to wait until February for a vaccine. Is that possible? And who would I call to arrange it?
A. So if you are eligible for the vaccine because you are a patient-facing staff member or you are over the age of 65, then you would reach out to the staff that are scheduling the appointments. You can just go enter that information, and they would schedule you.
Andria Castellanos: I just want to add that having antibodies does not disqualify you from getting the vaccine. And so I understand that this person might want to wait. There’s some recommendation during vaccine shortage that people with antibodies wait. However, we are not testing people with antibodies. And it doesn’t disqualify you from getting the vaccine today. If you prefer to get it in February, as long as we have vaccine, we will give this person vaccine. You can send an email to scheduleme@VNSNY.org.
Marian Haas: I just wanted to add that we will be sending a communication today to everyone who is in that eligible population to get vaccinated – field staff, or those over age 65. And there will be a link in there to a form to be able to get scheduled. That will be coming out today to all field staff and to staff over age 65 who are not yet scheduled for a vaccination. So you can watch for that. And everyone should watch for that and sign up and get an appointment this week.
Q. Will the reduced amount of vaccine delivery to VNSNY affect those who have second scheduled appointments 28 days out?
A. So I certainly hope it will not. We are hopeful that we will continue to get vaccines, and we will be able to provide the second dose to those people 28 days out. Our first day of second vaccine administration is February 4. So we’re hopeful that we will be getting adequate vaccine to start making that available.
And as I mentioned, by the end of this week, we will have vaccinated over 2000 people. So we need to make sure that we’re getting the vaccine to take care of those people. Otherwise, it may be the City that is making that second vaccine appointment. But we’re holding firm and hoping that it will be done internally here.
Q. I just want to know if you can get tested for COVID and vaccinated on the same day?
A. Yes, you can. Stop and get tested on COVID, then go get your vaccine.
Andria Castellanos: We would want people to get tested for COVID first and then get the vaccine. Because just in case you’re positive, we do not want you to get the vaccine. So get tested for COVID first. And you don’t have to do this. This is not a requirement. But if you want to, get tested first and then get the vaccine second. So you can do that.
Q. I’m a home health aide for Partners in Care. I got my test positive on January 4. I feel good now, and I started working on the 18th of this month. I want you to know if I could get the vaccine?
A. Tony Dawson, Vice President for Quality and Customer Experience: Yes, this person can come and provided they have no more symptoms, they can come and get the vaccine as scheduled. Get yourself scheduled.
Andria Castellanos: I will forward this to the person who’s in charge of the vaccine program for Partners in Care and have her reach out today.
Q. Do I have to test negative for COVID before I get vaccinated?
A. No, you do not have to test negative for COVID. But if you do get tested and you are positive, then we’re asking that you not come to the clinic with a positive COVID test because we want to protect the people in the clinic. And we don’t want you getting a COVID vaccine while you are positive.
So while you do not need to get a test before you come to the clinic, if you are feeling that you have signs and symptoms, you should get tested before you come. And if you are positive, please do not come to the clinic.
Q. Where can an employee get the form for the leftover vaccine, please?
A. There was an email that was sent out to all employees. If you go into your emails, you will see that there is an email there for you to reference to be able to sign up for the leftover program.
Q. What is the difference from the antibodies induced by the COVID mRNA vaccine versus the antibodies by contracting the virus?
A. Tony Dawson: So what we believe is that if you’ve gotten COVID that you have antibodies for some period of time. We don’t know how long that period of time is. Most people think that’s upwards of about 90 days or three months. But if you get the vaccine, we know that you have got immunity for a much longer period of time. And they continue to research on how long that is for. So having the vaccine gives you much, much longer immunity than just getting COVID itself.
Administrative
Q. Thank you for your years of service.
A. Well, thank you. This is very nice. The person wrote something nice about me, so I appreciate that.
HR Policies / Pay and PTO Policies
Q. I recently learned that we do not have permanent telehealth benefits through Empire BlueCross BlueShield. The telehealth coverage that we have is only temporary because of COVID. Our permanent telehealth benefits are through LiveHealth Online.com. Will the company make telehealth a permanent benefit?
A. Marian Haas, Chief Human Resources Officer: Yes, the telehealth benefits with your regular medical provider were extended during this period of pandemic. Certainly, they’ve been very helpful to many employees. And we will have to look into as things change in the future and get back to normal with Empire BlueCross BlueShield, how this type of telehealth benefit might be made eligible as a regular part of our benefit package.
Meanwhile, for those of you who might not be familiar with LiveHealth Online, it is a 24/7 service that makes physicians available to you. And it’s very helpful during emergency situations where you might not have access to your regular medical provider. Thanks very much for the question. And it is something for us to watch going forward as far as your regular benefits to seeing your scheduled medical providers.
Employee Health and Safety
Q. I had three loose stools, vomited, have a fever of 100.8 and spent all day in bed. My 02 saturation was 91%, and that improved. The next day I was fine. My temperature was 98.1. My energy came back. I had off after working on Saturday. I had COVID-19 last year in March. Any suggestions?
A. I think this is one where we will follow up directly with this employee to understand their situation. And it may just have been a bad day for them.
Q. Please let us know how many more staff are COVID positive since that 140 number a few weeks ago.
A. Unfortunately, I don’t have that number offhand. We’ll try to make sure we have that for next week.
Q. If the staff tests positive, takes off work, and then feels better, can they return to work prior to testing negative?
A. Tony Dawson: We just ask this person to call the CERT Team to make sure that they’re following all the correct protocols. So if you’re coming back, you’ve been positive, please just call the CERT Team so that we know what stage you’re at so that we can bring you back to work safely. So please just follow through with the CERT Team or Employee Health before you come back to work. Thank you.
Patient Care and Clinical
Q. Any movements on Medicare covering telephone care management visits? Are other insurances covering it? I’m worried about staff transmitting the virus to patients or patients to clinicians.
A. So no, Medicare has still not agreed to pay for telephonic or telehealth visits. Some insurances are covered. Medicaid is covering it, with some of our managed care clients were able to use it. But we’re worried as well. But unfortunately, the federal government has not agreed to cover telehealth visits at this time.
But with staff wearing appropriate PPE with patients, whether they are patients who are COVID positive or not, they’re supposed to be wearing their PPE. They should be protecting themselves and protecting their patients.