ATLANTA — Clarifications to existing vaccine guidelines aimed at ensuring appropriate vaccine storage temperatures were approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
The new language will be added to the “storage and handling” section of the committee's revised General Recommendations on Immunization, which were last published in 2006 (MMWR 2006;55[RR15]:1-48). The document is directed to providers who give many different vaccines on a daily basis, Dr. Andrew Kroger said at ACIP's winter meeting.
According to the current statement, “Refrigerators without freezers and stand-alone freezers (either manual defrost or automatic defrost) usually perform best at maintaining the precise temperatures required for vaccine storage, and such single-purpose units sold for home use are less expensive alternatives to medical specialty equipment.” The new statement will add “and are preferable to combination units” to the end of that sentence.
The committee also approved language stating that new units may need 2 or more days of operation to establish a stable operating temperature after being set up, and that vaccine should not be stored in the unit until the appropriate temperature has stabilized.
Other language was “weakened” somewhat from the current statement with reference to situations in which a temperature problem can't be resolved, such as when the unit is unplugged or the door left open. The current statement advises that in such instances “a plan should be developed to transfer vaccine to a predesignated alternative emergency storage site.” The new statement simply says that such a transfer “might be necessary.”
The rationale for that change is that in certain environments, it might actually be dangerous for staff to enter. Moreover, external temperature monitoring may reduce the need for staff to enter the environment and open the door, and vaccine stability is enhanced if the door is not opened, noted Dr. Kroger of the CDC's immunization services division.