As of March 29, 2021, the District of Columbia has seen 44,413 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 1,061 confirmed deaths. Almost four months since the first vaccines were administered in the United States, DC has administered just under 300,000 doses, with 19.2% of resident partially or fully vaccinated, and 9.7% fully vaccinated.*
WDCPhA encourages pharmacists to review information on the DC Department of Health website, DC Healthlink, the CDC’s COVID-19 Vaccination page, and the Immunization Action Coalition (IAC) COVID-19 webpage. All three sites are updated frequently and contain additional information.
DC GOV: https://coronavirus.dc.gov/
DC Healthlink: https://www.dchealthlink.com/
CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/index.html
IAC: https://www.immunize.org/covid-19/
*Data pulled from the DC Department of Health website as of Monday, March 29. 2021. Please visit https://coronavirus.dc.gov/ for current data.
Application of U.S. HHS Prep Act Amendments
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (U.S. HHS) issued amendments and guidance under the PREP Act that permit expanded immunization authority during the federally-declared public health emergency, if all requirements are met. In conjunction with state statues and requirements set by U.S. HHS, application in MD permits:
- Pharmacists ordering and administering ACIP-recommended and COVID-19 vaccines for ages 3+ without a prescription
- Interns administering ACIP-recommended and COVID-19 vaccines for ages 3+ under the supervision of a pharmacist
- Certified technicians administering ACIP-recommended to ages 3-18 and COVID-19 vaccines to anyone of any age under the supervision of a pharmacist
U.S. HHS has clarified that pharmacists and interns need to meet state statute to immunize in accordance with the U.S. HHS amendments. Pharmacists and interns do NOT need to have 20 hours of training.