 The Childhood Vaccine Program would like to wish you and yours a happy holiday season. We are grateful for your partnership and appreciate all your hard work keeping Washington kids healthy.
Happy first day of winter! We are experiencing cold and icy temperatures around the state this holiday weekend which can mean power outages and temperature excursions. So please be sure that you are prepared to respond to emergencies following your Vaccine Emergency Plan which is located in your Vaccine Management Plan. You should have a few staff members familiar with your plan and ready to respond to an emergency vaccine situation.
The Temperature Excursion Guide will guide you through the steps to follow in an emergency. Our recent Childhood Vaccine Program Training Series on Inclement Weather and Emergency Transport Plan is another helpful emergency planning resource.
Here are some things to remember when your facility loses power:
- Do not open your storage units.
- Place a “DO NOT OPEN” sign on the vaccine storage unit(s) and leave the door(s) shut to conserve cold air.
- Notify the emergency contacts on your Emergency Plan.
- Note the time the outage started and document storage unit temperatures (ROOM TEMP, CURRENT, MIN & MAX).
- Assess the cause of the power failure and estimate the time it will take to restore power.
- Take appropriate action for any temperature excursions following the Temperature Excursion Guide. Bag the vaccines and mark them “DO NOT USE” until you contact the manufacturers to determine viability.
- If temperatures near out-of-range conditions, or for outages that extend beyond the current business day, transport vaccines to the alternate storage facility using the Emergency Transport Guide. Monitor temperatures throughout transport and report any excursions.
Please reach out to the Childhood Vaccine Program if you have questions or need help with follow-up after a temperature excursion.
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