Information for NHSN users
The NHSN Vaccination Team hosted a webinar on Thursday, June 23rd to review changes to the definition for individuals considered Up to Date with COVID-19 vaccines for data reporting through the NHSN COVID-19 Vaccination Modules. We learned that some users were unable to join the webinar due to the number of participants exceeding capacity. We apologize for this inconvenience. To address this, NHSN is hosting a second webinar on the same topic (Up to Data Vaccination Status Surveillance Definition Change) on Tuesday June 28th from 12:00-1:00 PM Eastern Time.
Please click the link below to register for the webinar on Tuesday June 28th from 12:00-1:00 PM Eastern:
https://cdc.zoomgov.com/j/1619745620?pwd=ODE3QTNGb1FzNlRvMFB1bHQvd3NGUT09
After registering, you will receive a confirmation e-mail containing information about joining the webinar.
We also wanted to provide answers to a few frequently asked questions that came up during the webinar:
- The guidance we provided on how to report Up to Date COVID-19 vaccination applies to all facilities that report vaccination data through the NHSN COVID-19 Vaccination Modules including long-term care facilities (LTCF), dialysis facilities, acute care hospitals, inpatient psychiatric facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, long-term acute care hospitals, and ambulatory surgery centers. The information provided regarding case reporting through the Resident Impact and Facility Capacity (RIFC) Pathways applies only to LTCFs.
- NHSN’s surveillance definition of Up to Date with COVID-19 vaccines is based on CDC’s clinical considerations and Up to Date definition for the first day of the reporting quarter. CDC recently updated the definition of Up to Date vaccination, so the NHSN surveillance definition will change for Quarter 3, 2022, which begins during the reporting week of June 27, 2022 – July 3, 2022.
- For LTCFs, the NHSN event-level (person-level) vaccination form will classify individuals as up to date and will apply this new definition beginning 6/27. In order for this to happen, you will need to enter date of birth beginning 6/27 for all individuals in the facility since age is now taken into consideration for determining up to date vaccination status. The Excel Data Tracking Worksheets have been discontinued for LTCFs and removed from the NHSN website since the event-level (person-level) vaccination tool is now available for LTCFs.
- For all other non-LTC facility types (e.g., dialysis, acute care, ambulatory surgery, etc.), the Excel Data Tracking Worksheet is being updated to incorporate the new definition of up to date vaccination. It should be available in the coming weeks. This Excel tool will be maintained until the NHSN event-level vaccination forms are available for non-LTC facilities.