How King County health care providers can enroll to become an H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine provider

The federal government is providing H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine through Washington State Department of Health (DOH) for eligible Washington residents who wish to be voluntarily vaccinated.

Enrollment

King County Health care providers who want to receive doses of H1N1 vaccine must complete and sign a formal provider agreement and fax it back to Public Health - Seattle & King County (206-205-5780). Each physical location where vaccine will be administered MUST have a signed provider agreement. Vaccine can be ordered only for providers who have a signed H1N1 Vaccine Provider Agreement on file at Public Health. The provider agreement includes your specific shipping information, and an estimate of the total number of doses you are requesting for the first month.

The minimum order is 100 doses for each formulation. If you are a smaller provider and cannot use enough doses for the minimum order, you may still enroll (complete a provider agreement) and have your vaccine shipped to our Public Health Distribution Center for pick-up.

For questions about enrollment, please contact Public Health – Seattle & King County at 206-296-4774, or e-mail H1N1vaccine@kingcounty.gov.

What will happen next? Ordering and allocation

• Public Health will send a copy of the agreement to DOH and DOH staff will assign a PIN (provider identification number) for your clinic location.
• Local Public Health will send an H1N1 vaccine order form to providers by fax or e-mail. Providers will complete the order form and fax it back to Public Health, with the doses needed for each formulation.
• Public Health will allocate vaccine based on the supply of formulations available and the demand indicated by orders. Providers will be notified by fax or email of the amount allocated by Public Health, and vaccine will be shipped by McKesson directly to providers approximately one week after order.

How will I get the vaccine?

Vaccine will be shipped directly to pre-approved providers through the distributor, McKesson. Vaccine supplies (e.g., syringes, gauze squares, immunization record cards, etc.) will also be directly-shipped from McKesson but will arrive separately, in advance of the vaccine shipment. Providers must notify Public Health immediately if their vaccine delivery address, shipping days, or shipping time information changes. No guarantees can be made about the timing or size of individual vaccine shipments.

When will I get the vaccine?

The initial, small shipment of H1N1 vaccine (all as intranasal or LAIV vaccine) became available on September 30, and has been distributed to providers to vaccinate their health care staff and emergency medical services staff. Additional doses are coming from manufacturers to McKesson (the national distributor) as they are released by the federal Food and Drug Administration. States will receive daily updates of vaccine available for order, but will not know ahead of time which formulations and how many doses of each will be available.

How can I get additional doses of vaccine?

Although in the first few weeks there may be insufficient vaccine supply to immunize all persons in the target groups for vaccination, in time, there will be adequate supplies available for anyone who wants be vaccinated.

By signing the provider agreement, providers agree to report the following information to local health jurisdictions each week:

• Number of doses administered, by age and dose number
• Number of doses still on hand
• Requests for additional doses based on anticipated demand among target populations in your practice (a minimum of 100 doses)

Subsequent orders will be filled based on this information. Provider orders will be reviewed and may need to be limited based on the above considerations to maximize equitable distribution to target groups throughout the county when vaccine demand outstrips supply.