TO: New Hampshire Licensed Healthcare Providers
FROM: Lindsey B. Courtney, Executive Director, Office of Professional Licensure & Certification
DATE: December 28, 2020
RE: New Hampshire COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation
The Department of Health and Human Services has provided the following information surrounding New Hampshire’s COVID-19 vaccine allocation as follows: NH DHHS is pleased to announce that “Most-Risk” ambulatory care and health care professionals working in other settings can now register to be vaccinated against COVID19. This communication outlines that process, which involves individuals and health care organizations working together to ensure the best use of the limited doses of vaccine available. You may receive this message through several different venues (e.g. licensing agencies, professional societies and organizations) and we ask that you share this guidance to help us ensure that all ambulatory health care providers receive this notice. Ambulatory care providers that are affiliated with a hospital organization should follow their organization’s plan for vaccinating ambulatory care providers. Non-affiliated providers can register to be vaccinated at a state-managed fixed site. There is equitable allocation of vaccine being provided to both hospital and non-hospital affiliated vaccination sites. Non-New Hampshire residents working in New Hampshire will be required to verify NH employment status at the state managed fixed sites through a paystub or employee ID.
How to Register: First review the NH COVID-19 Vaccination Allocation Guidelines for Phase 1a. This enables you as a health care provider to categorize yourself into Most-At-Risk, Moderate Risk and Lowest Risk, giving examples and guidance on who qualifies for which category. We have limited doses of vaccine coming into our state and we need your help to ensure that we have enough doses for those at Most-Risk first. Once we have completed vaccinating Most-Risk health workers in these categories (estimated to take 3-4 weeks, starting 12/28), we will start vaccinating those at Moderate-Risk. Those at Lowest-Risk will be vaccinated in a later phase. The next step in this process is for you to have discussions at your clinic level to determine those at greatest risk in the Most-At-Risk category for your work environment. These are the individuals that we want you to register this week for the first vaccine doses being administered, starting the week of 12/28. Starting Wednesday 12/30, we would like you to submit the rest of the names in your Most-Risk category. Through this kind of local control and working together, we can prioritize those that need this vaccine the most. If you work independently, we ask that you look at where you fall in the risk categories and schedule yourself appropriately.
Once you have completed the steps above, instruct those individuals prioritized to receive the vaccine to register at this link: https://prd.blogs.nh.gov/dos/hsem/?page_id=10681. This form needs to be completed by the individual being vaccinated. It will provide them with information on the vaccine, action items needed to be completed before vaccination if they fall into any risk categories, and the opportunity to have a call back from a non- medical provider if they have questions about the registration process. When an individual registers, they will be asked what category they fall into. The majority of Most-Risk Health Workers will fall into Ambulatory Care Settings or “Other” Settings. Those that do not are listed below:
Setting- Roles1
Ambulatory care settings
Ambulatory and urgent care clinics- Multiple
Dialysis centers; blood, organ, and tissue donation facilities-Multiple
Other settings
K-12 schools- School nurse
Home health care- Home health aide, personal care aide, occupational therapist
Funeral services- Embalmer, mortician, funeral director, manager
Retail stores- Pharmacist, pharmacy technician
Corrections facilities- Physician, nurse
State COVID-19 Shelter- Staff, transportation provider
Group homes for individuals in recovery in which COVID-19 cases are housed- Nurse, other medical staff
Group homes for individuals with high-risk comorbidities- Nurse, other medical staff
1 This is not an exhaustive list of roles that qualify for Phase 1a vaccination in these settings. Job function will determine individuals who qualify as Phase 1a at-risk health workers.
Upon completion of the registration form, the individual will receive several pages of information about the vaccine, “v-safe” (this is an optional CDC text messaging system available for smartphone users that gives them the ability to tell the CDC if they are experiencing side effects), as well as some documentation about privacy practices. We ask that you review this information prior to arrival at the vaccination clinic. Once NH DHHS receives your registration form, there will be a natural delay in sending you an email to sign up to receive the vaccine. This delay is so that NH DHHS can ensure fair allocation across all vaccination groups and locations and then invite only the amount of registrants that the vaccine supply allows. The amount of vaccine received by the State of New Hampshire is the limiting factor in this process. Your patience is greatly appreciated.
As vaccination appointments become available, additional registrants will be contacted via email to schedule an appointment. If you do not have access to email, NH DHHS will call the phone number provided on the registration form.
Once you receive an email directing you to schedule an appointment for your vaccination, you will receive an email from this email no-reply@mail.vams.cdc.gov . Please ensure that that this email address is not blocked or sent to your spam filter.
Please follow the link to the VAMS system and complete the registration form (including a username and password) with your demographic data and medical history.
- Your insurance information is optional and no information will be reported to your insurance company. You will not be charged any fee for this vaccine at one of the state-run fixed site locations.
- Your next portion of this registration is to sign up for a location, date and time. Only select one of the clinics labeled State of NH-(with the Public Health Region, ie. Capital Region, North Country, etc.). You may select any of the FIXED SITE locations that have availability, but we would ask that you try the one closest to your home or work first.
- Once you have selected the clinic, you may choose any available date and time. This completes the initial portion of your registration.
- Starting 12 hours before your scheduled appointment, you need to go back into the VAMS system utilizing the link https://VAMS.cdc.gov and answer the prevaccination questionnaire (these are health-screening questions). This health screening must be completed before your appointment time. If it is not completed, we will ask you to fall back in at the end of the line once completed.
Where you will get vaccinated: Once you are approved for scheduling, available dates, times and locations will be provided to you. There are 13 fixed sites. The vaccine clinic dates and times were designed to provide individuals with flexibility in scheduling. You will be able to access the schedule and location details during the scheduling process. Do not show up to a fixed clinic location without an appointment. You will not be able to receive a vaccine and will unfortunately slow down the process.
Clinic Locations
- Claremont (Sullivan)
- Littleton (North Country)
- Concord (Capital Area)
- Londonderry (South Central)
- Exeter (Seacoast)
- Nashua (Greater Nashua)
- Hooksett (Greater Manchester)
- Plymouth (Central NH)
- Keene (Greater Monadnock)
- Rochester (Strafford County)
- Laconia (Winnipesaukee)
- Lebanon (Upper Valley)
- Tamworth (Carroll County)
Preparing for vaccination at a State-Managed Fixed Site:
- Ensure that you have completed your pre-vaccination questionnaire (see above for directions)
- Bring the following: Face Mask, Photo ID (e.g. driver’s license), Non-NH residents only: Proof of NH employment
- Dress appropriately for ease of access to your upper arm (shoulder region).
Upon arrival at State of NH Clinic Location:
- Traffic control will greet you and direct you to the drive-thru lane.
- Please remain in your car and wear your mask.
- A registrar will greet you and will confirm your appointment time.
- Next, you will move forward to the vaccination station where your identification will be verified, the pre-vaccination questionnaire will be reviewed, and you will receive a packet of information (After Visit Summary, Vaccine Fact Sheet, CDC v-safe info, and vaccine administration card).
- You will receive your vaccination in your car. Next, you will be directed to an observation area and asked to wait 15 minutes to ensure your safety (and others if you are driving).
- Vaccination staff will be monitoring for any adverse reactions and have emergency training as well as equipment to respond. Please stay in your car and honk your horn if you have any reactions.
We appreciate all that you are doing to keep the citizens of our State safe in these unprecedented times. With your help, we will vaccinate those in greatest need safely, quickly and efficiently. Our goal is to ensure that individuals are informed of vaccine risks and benefits, that they are safely vaccinated, and that we vaccinate as many people as possible within the number of doses allocated to the State of New Hampshire.
Please see below for a list of contact information:
Access Pathway -- Types of Questions
211 -- General Questions on vaccination
covidvaccine@dhhs.nh.gov -- General questions on when a group is eligible for vaccination, etc.
Covidvaccinescheduling@dhhs.nh.gov 603-271-5980 -- Questions about pre-registration form, healthcare screening questions (nonmedical support) or currently scheduled appointments. This is staffed by nonmedical personnel that can assist with the registration process.
Lindsey B. Courtney, J.D. | Executive Director
NH Office of Professional Licensure and Certification
7 Eagle Square, Suite 200, Concord, New Hampshire 03301
