[Ohioaap-practicemanagers] CDC changes vaccine storage requirements for all VFC providers

[Melanie Farkas]

CDC changes vaccine storage requirements for all VFC providers

Robin Warner, M.D., FAAP

Beginning Jan. 1, all Vaccines for Children (VFC) program providers must comply with new requirements for vaccine storage issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Regular review and access to temperature data are crucial for determining whether vaccine has been stored within the appropriate temperature range and for assessing usability of vaccine that has been involved in a temperature excursion.

Under the new requirements, all VFC providers must do the following (providers in some states may already be required to do so):

  *   Use continuous temperature monitoring devices (data loggers) to monitor vaccines that will be administered to children in the VFC program. This applies to:

     *   routine onsite storage of vaccine,
     *   transport of vaccine and
     *   mass vaccination clinics.
  *   Maintain primary and back-up thermometers that meet the CDC data logger requirements, which include having:
     *   a temperature probe — a buffered probe is recommended and represents the vaccine temperature better than measuring the air temperature;
     *   an active temperature display that can be easily read from the outside of the unit; and
     *   the capacity for continuous temperature monitoring and recording where the data can be downloaded routinely.
  *   Assess and record minimum and maximum temperatures at the start of each clinic day.

Additional recommended features for data loggers that may be required by local VFC programs are listed on pages 15-16 of the CDC Vaccine Storage and Handling Toolkit,https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/admin/storage/toolkit/storage-handling-toolkit.pdf.

Contact your local VFC coordinator with questions. Contact information can be found at https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/vfc/contacts-state.html.
Dr. Warner is a member of the AAP Committee on Practice and Ambulatory Medicine.

http://www.aappublications.org/news/2017/12/19/VaccineStorage121917


Melanie J. Farkas
Director of Communications & Immunization Programs
Ohio Chapter,
American Academy of Pediatrics
Phone: 614-846-6258
Fax: 614-846-4025
Address: 94-A Northwoods Blvd. | Columbus, OH 43235
Website: OhioAAP.org<http://www.ohioaap.org/>


[id:image001.jpg at 01D2F5A4.2F1E4400]

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.deltaforce.net/pipermail/ohioaap-practicemanagers/attachments/20171228/3230e571/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 61538 bytes
Desc: image001.jpg
URL: <http://lists.deltaforce.net/pipermail/ohioaap-practicemanagers/attachments/20171228/3230e571/attachment-0001.jpg>