- Develop your Vaccination Plan and order extra reusable or disposable containers
- Do not borrow reusable sharps containers from other parts of the hospital, ensure you have adequate containers for vaccination waste
- Be flexible about switching between 4-gallon, 8-gallon and 2-gallon containers (Tip: approximately 500 3cc syringes fit into a 4-gallon sharps container)
- Use sharps containers for sharps waste only
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resource Hub
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Last updatedJune 04, 2021
Coronavirus (COVID-19): Vaccination Readiness
With COVID-19 vaccines deploying throughout the United States, healthcare facilities are managing an influx of both patients and vaccination waste. Stericycle’s Regulatory and Safety teams have been closely monitoring the distribution and administration of vaccines. Our cross-functional COVID-19 Vaccination Task Force has scaled up our operations, building a state-level forecast to better understand the vaccine rollout across distribution channels and modeling various scenarios to prepare our operations.
If you would like more information on how Stericycle can support your vaccination plans, please visit our service page, contact your Stericycle account manager or call 888-793-4346.
Vaccination Planning
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is providing vaccination resources for planning, allocation, distribution, administration, storage and handling, patient education and more. Stericycle continually monitors updates from the CDC and we encourage our customers to do the same.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Defense have combined resources to help develop, make, and distribute millions of vaccine doses for COVID-19 as quickly as possible.
Administration of the vaccines is rolling out in phases. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the CDC advises prioritizing the following groups for first phase of vaccine administrations:
• Healthcare personnel
• Essential workers
• People with underlying conditions
• People aged 65 and above
It is important to note that these are guidelines and may vary at a state level.
Additionally, the vaccines have strict temperature storage requirements to maintain integrity, and most must be taken in multiple doses. This summary details the different vaccines and showcase some of their key characteristics. It is important to consider the impact that this may have on vaccination programs and disposal requirements when developing a vaccine administration plan. For instance, fostering compliance with a two-dose vaccine regimen may require enhanced scheduling and communication strategies.
Click here to learn more about our HIPAA compliant scheduling and reminders solution for COVID-19 vaccines and testing.
- Have a plan for temporary influx of sharps waste to ensure proper and safe disposal
- Be flexible about switching between 4-gallon, 8-gallon and 2-gallon containers (Tip: approximately 500 3cc syringes fit into a 4-gallon sharps container)
- Use sharps containers for sharps waste only