Contact VFC

Phone: (877) 243-8832
Hours:
Mon-Thurs, 9AM–4:30PM
Friday, 9AM–4PM
Send us an email
Fax: (877) 329-9832

Monitoring Storage Unit Temperatures

Vaccines are Fragile and Expensive

Cold temperatures can damage vaccines immediately. Warm temperatures can damage vaccines cumulatively over time. Both can impact vaccine viability. Monitoring storage unit temperatures consistently and accurately plays an important role in protecting the vaccines that protect your patients.

 

Four Factors For Success

Participating providers agree to twice daily monitoring of vaccine storage unit temperatures. Prevention of temperature excursions is dependent on four factors:

  1. Well-trained staff.
    All key practice staff who monitor temperatures must be properly trained on data logger set up and use. Staff must know how to record storage unit temperatures and respond to temperature excursions. Convenient online EZIZ training prepares your practice for success.

  2. Reliable equipment.
    Routine maintenance of VFC-compliant vaccine storage units and digital data loggers helps ensure that temperatures remain within ranges that protect vaccine viability.

  3. Accurate and complete documentation.
    In the event of temperature excursions, vaccine manufacturers decide whether vaccines are viable using the practice’s VFC refrigerator (Fahrenheit | Celsius) and freezer (Fahrenheit | Celsius) temperature logs. If temperatures have not been accurately recorded twice daily, the documentation may be insufficient for manufacturers to determine vaccine viability.

  4. Appropriate action for out-of-range temperatures.
    Supervisors must ensure that appropriate action has been taken for all out-of-range temperatures. MyVFCvaccines provides an online tool (SHOTS) that triages each incident to determine whether vaccine manufacturers must intervene to determine vaccine viability.

 

Job Aids: