The Victorian Department of Health has recently updated vaccine cold chain management protocols, effectively immediately.
Key points
- Immunisation providers must report all cold chain breaches for government funded vaccines that have been exposed to temperatures outside the recommended +2 °C to +8 °C cold chain range. (This excludes fluctuations up to +12 °C for no more than 15 minutes during restocking, cleaning or stocktaking.)
- All government vaccine account holders must nominate a vaccine coordinator and backup person to complete the department’s Clinical/Vaccine Coordinator Cold Chain Management eLearning module.
It is important to immediately discard the old Victorian Department of Health cold chain breach refrigerator magnet.
The department encourages all staff involved in vaccine storage and cold chain management to complete the Cold chain management eLearning module.