As flu season approaches and many COVID-19 vaccine providers also will begin offering influenza vaccines, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) would like to share how vaccine providers can communicate flu vaccine availability with the public using vaccines.gov.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and ODH invite all COVID-19 vaccine providers to register with the CDC’s VaccineFinder, which powers vaccines.gov, to be able to share with your communities which influenza vaccine products you will have available this flu season. This service will help Ohioans find out about flu immunization availability near them. It is important to note this request is for reporting influenza vaccine stock only. ODH will continue to report daily COVID-19 vaccine stock across Ohio.
To participate, each provider location will need to register for an account (more information below).
After registration and your account is activated, providers will be asked to mark any flu vaccine products you have as “In Stock.” Providers should update product availability every two weeks, and mark “Out of Stock” when applicable.
For each location, Vaccines.gov displays the types of vaccines available, as well as the website or phone number to take the next step to get vaccinated.
How to Register
On September 9, the CDC began to send registration invitations by email to Ohio vaccine providers to use the website.
- The email will come from vaccinefinder@auth.castlighthealth.com, and was sent to the organization’s email address provided on Section A of the COVID-19 Vaccine Provider Agreement.
- Upon login to the Locating Health Portal, each approved provider organization contact can choose to either report centrally for all affiliated locations or delegate reporting to individual provider locations (those for whom there is a separate Section B).
- If an organization chooses to report centrally, this will be the only VaccineFinder account for that organization.
- If an organization chooses to delegate, registration emails will be sent to the primary and backup contacts listed in Section B of the provider agreement. All three contacts will have access to VaccineFinder.
- Providers who need support with registration can email CARS_Helpdesk@cdc.gov.
- Providers that need to change the primary contact’s email address or have forgotten their Vaccine Tracking System (VTrcKS) PIN should contact ODH by emailing COVIDVACCINE@odh.ohio.gov.
- The CDC will provide training to access the system and report inventory.
More information about this program is available online.