In an Amendment by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to the Declaration Under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) for Medical Countermeasures Against COVID–19, Doctors of Optometry are now allowed to be authorized to provide COVID vaccinations when certain requirements are met.
The PREP Act preempts some state laws; however, there is a provision within the amendment that defers individual states if the state wants to impose additional training requirements.
Optometrists (and Optometry students) in Nevada who would like to provide COVID vaccines need to register with SERVNV, be CPR certified, complete the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) courses on vaccinations, as well as vaccine training courses provided by Immunize Nevada as outlined by Nevada DHHS. Please refer to the CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Training Programs and Reference Materials for Healthcare Professionals to make sure you have completed all required training.
There is also a provision related to confirming competency which requires "documentation of an observation period by a currently practicing healthcare professional in administering intramuscular injections, and from whom administering intramuscular injections is in their ordinary scope of practice, who confirms competency of the healthcare provider or student in preparation and administration of the COVID-19 vaccine(s)."
The NOA and the AOA are working with state and federal agencies to determine exactly what additional requirements may be needed and how best to ease any burdens that may be associated with the HHS-required "observation period."
After vaccine administration training, if Optometrists and Optometry students would like to volunteer to be vaccinators at a point of dispensing (POD), then there is no Nevada WebIZ training needed unless they want to help with data entry into NV WebIZ. Training is needed for NV WebIZ data entry.
If you do volunteer to be an NV COVID Fighter, we ask you to log and keep track of your vaccination hours by filling out this simple form. It takes about a minute to do.
If an Optometrist would like to stock COVID-19 vaccine for administration in their offices, the following steps must be taken:
Secure an NV WebIZ account for the office (to order vaccine, manage vaccine inventory, and document vaccine administration) and 8 hours of WebIZ training for staff members
Secure a stand-alone fridge with a digital data logger to monitor the temperatures
Appoint 2 vaccine coordinators for the office. Duties include:
Daily reporting of vaccine inventory to Vaccine Finder
Weekly vaccine inventory reconciliation in WebIZ
Data entry into WebIZ of all COVID-19 vaccines administered within 24 hours of administration
Twice daily temperature monitoring of the vaccine storage units (paper temp log)
Competency in vaccine storage and handling (responding to temperature excursions, etc)
The Moderna and Janssen vaccines are in multi-dose vials. Once the vial stopper is punctured, the contents must be administered within 6 hours of puncturing the stopper.
The offices would have to be sure to have 5 people lined up for the Janssen product or 10 people lined up for the Moderna product.
The minimum order is 100 doses.
Moderna vaccine can be refrigerated for 30 days.
Janssen vaccine can be refrigerated for 3 months.
The state IZ program cannot guarantee which product will be available when the optometrist orders.
If you do administer COVID-19 vaccines in your office/clinic, we ask you to log and keep track of your vaccination hours by filling out this simple form. It takes about a minute to do.
Resources for necessary COVID-19 vaccination administration training, certification, and registration.
CPR Training
