Daniels Health is a global healthcare waste management innovator, partnering with facilities across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom; in this season, unlike no other, COVID-19 brought an opportunity for our teams to step up and provide flexible service, and quick, safe solutions to healthcare during a truly unpredictable time. With the rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations, we are ready to support our partners in healthcare with safe vaccine waste disposal services and the highest safety-grade sharps containers to match. For more information about our COVID-19 vaccine disposal solutions, continue reading.

In this blog:

01 / How the Sharpsmart container was part of the first publically-administered vaccination 

02 / Our reusable sharps container in action during vaccinations

03 / COVID-19 Vaccine Disposal Services

01 / A new hope began with Margaret

The UK counterparts of Daniels Health, Sharpsmart, have strived to be a pillar of support for the NHS during the pandemic. It was exciting for the entire Daniels global family to see our flagship solution, the Sharpsmart reusable sharps container, play a small role in the first publicly administered vaccine.

“Margaret Keenan, 90, a former jewelry shop assistant, rolled up the sleeve of her “Merry Christmas” T-shirt to receive the first shot, and her image quickly became an emblem of hope and resilience.”

December 2020 – Source: NYTimes

Fun fact: In the UK and Canada our Sharpsmart containers are a vivid yellow and in the US they are colored ivory or red (depending on container opening preference). To learn more about our container types in the US, click here.

Soon after the UK began their innoculations, the US followed suit with ICU Nurse Sandra Lindsey of New York. This kicked off a turning point for American healthcare and gave us all a renewed sense of hope.

As COVID-19 vaccinations continue – we see a familiar solution

COVID-19 Vaccinations are well underway across the United States with priority being given to healthcare workers and at-risk individuals. Due to our long-term partnership with some of America's largest health systems in the country, like Stanford, AdventHealth and Henry Ford, we have continued to see our reusable Sharpsmart container in the background of vaccination photos. 

However as much as we are beaming with pride that our flagship sharps container is playing some small part in our nation's history, of course, the real champions of this moment are the COVID-19 vaccine itself and the millions of healthcare workers who have sacrificially put patient priorities ahead of their own since our country was first hit with this pandemic. Here are a few photos of our healthcare heroes being innoculated, with the Sharpsmart standing by.

“HSHS Wisconsin and Prevea Health, began administering the first round of COVID-19 vaccines allotted to them by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS).”

December 2020 – Source: wearegreenBay.com

“Distribution of COVID-19 vaccines began today at AdventHealth Daytona Beach. The location joins AdventHealth Orlando and AdventHealth Celebration as a distribution site for frontline health care workers in AdventHealth’s Central Florida division.”

December 2020 – Source: AdventHealth Central Florida LinkedIn

“The first COVID-19 vaccinations are being given in New Jersey Tuesday, with the first recipient a nurse, Maritza Beniquez, who got the shot at University Hospital in Newark.”

December 2020 – Source: ABC7NY

“Team members at Advocate Sherman Hospital and sites across their system have started receiving the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine this week. To date, more than 30,000 Advocate Aurora Health team members in Illinois and Wisconsin have received the first dose of the vaccine.”

January 2021 - Source: Advocate Health Care LinkedIn

Meanwhile, in the UK... the Sharpsmart met the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.

"Nurse Susan Cole received the Oxford vaccine at Chase Farm Hospital in north London in front of Boris Johnson." 

January 2021 – Source: ITV.com

COVID-19 Vaccination Disposal Services

As healthcare communities continue COVID-19 vaccine administrations, Daniels Health is here and prepared to support with COVID-19 vaccine disposal services and available to answer any questions around correct compliant disposal. 

Some recent FAQs around COVID-19 Vaccine Waste Disposal have been:

What containers do COVID-19 vaccine contaminated sharps or residual vaccines belong in?

For syringes that contain trace amounts, less than 3%, of the vaccine - it should be disposed of in a sharps container. We recommend our Sharpsmart container – a reusable sharps bin system that enables hands-free disposal and makes the contents of the container irretrievable.  

For bulk waste or vials of vaccine, it should be disposed of in non-hazardous pharmaceutical container. We recommend our Pharmasmart container – another tamperproof system that meets the highest irretrievability standards and ensures the protection of safety and staff.

Is Daniels Health able to collect COVID-19 Vaccine waste?

Yes, Daniels is a certified sharps and pharmaceutical waste hauler, and per CDC guidelines is able to not only collect and transport COVID-19 vaccine waste and contaminated sharps, but also able to provide the industry's leading security-designed hands-free containers for safe disposal of partially used syringes, vials or waste resulting from COVID-19 vaccinations. All of our drivers, operational and clinical-support staff are equipped with appropriate PPE and trained on facility-level protocols when it comes to container installation or waste pickups, ensuring the highest standards of safety and infection control are achieved.  

Is Daniels Health equipped to handle large waste volumes? 

Yes, with 22 operational sites across the United States, Daniels Health has a national service infrastructure that is able to service 87% of the hospital bed market in the US. With both transport and waste treatment capacity supported by strong operational processes, expert compliance and technical staff, and a strong customer service quality management process, we are proud to say that in the last 11 months during one of the most volatile seasons in healthcare, we have been able to maintain 100% service across our 7000+ customer base. 

For more information about our COVID-19 Vaccine Disposal Services, click here.

To reach out to us to discuss service setup, click here.