Safe Administration and Monitoring of the COVID-19 Vaccine

Infection Prevention Control (IPC) standards are in place to ensure that healthcare workers and community members are protected during vaccination. It's important to adhere to these 5 steps for every COVID-19 vaccine visit to reduce infection for healthcare workers and community members ✅

1. Use alcohol hand rub for 20-30 seconds or wash your hands with clean water and soap for 40-60 seconds between each patient; 💧
2. cover your sneeze and cough with a tissue or your elbow (not your hands); 💨
3. wear a medical mask and avoid touching your face. Have clean hands before putting it on and taking it off. Replace the mask if it gets soiled, wet, or damaged; 😷
4. use safe injection and safe disposal practices; 🩹
5. clean and disinfect often, especially high-touch surfaces, to keep a safe environment. 🧼

Setting up safe vaccination sites takes preparation. Consider the following when preparing a vaccine administration site:

• Ensure good air flow and physical distancing. For natural air flow, open as many windows & doors as possible. If possible, set up the vaccination site outdoors.
• Set up a screening process to stop anyone with symptoms before they enter the vaccination site. Also, limit the number of people entering to avoid crowds.

Also:

• Try to arrange one-way traffic only so the patient goes through stations in this order: screening, entrance, registration, vaccination, observation, and exit.
• When giving the vaccine, position the person receiving the vaccine sideways and facing away from the vaccinator, so face-to-face contact can be avoided.

Proper recording and monitoring of COVID-19 vaccinations is important because:

• It provides a certified proof of vaccination;
• serves to monitor progress with vaccine uptake and coverage;
• provides information for vaccine and supply management; and
• informs vaccine effectiveness and vaccine safety.
  

There are two basic types of records that could be completed at the facility level:

1. Home-based records: these are personal and also commonly called vaccination cards or vaccination certificates. They include information such as the date of vaccination, type of vaccine, batch/lot number, dose number, name of facility and stamp/signature.
2. Facility-based records: these are kept in the facilities and normally contain more information than home-based records. They also allow providers to send reminders to patients and report data to public health authorities.

Local and national governments use tally sheets to keep track of vaccinations administered by target group (age, sex, pre-existing condition, etc). Each country or health system may have their own tally sheet so make sure you are using the correct one for your setting. Periodic reports are also used to keep track and summarize vaccinations administered by target group along with other information such as kind of vaccine used. Other information that you may need to enter in periodic reports is vaccine balances, vaccines used, vaccines spoiled and wasted, and adverse events following immunization.