The Vaccine Preventable Disease (VPD) Team currently offers both routine and travel immunizations at six area clinics and delivers immunizations within the school setting. The team also gathers and tracks the immunization status of all children enrolled in local schools and daycares and provides immunization information to parents, children and health care professional. In order to ensure the efficacy of publicly funded vaccines, the VPD team conducts annual fridge inspections in health professional's offices, long term care homes, some workplaces and hospitals and investigates all incidences when publicly funded vaccines are not kept within the proper "cold chain" temperature range. The VPD team also deals with Reports of Adverse Events Following Immunization.
These activities are required under the Ontario Public Health Standards, 2008.
Due to the Health Unit's commitment to cold chain, we are unable to administered vaccine that is not dispensed by the Health Unit, this includes vaccines dispensed by pharmacies. We recommend that clients return to the Health Care Provider who prescribed the vaccine for administration. Please contact us if you have questions regarding cold chain or the proper storage and handling of vaccines at 613-345-5685
or 1-800-660-5853.
Vaccines are sensitive biological substances that can lose their effectiveness if they are not stored properly. The transportation and storage of vaccines within a temperature range of 2° and 8° Celsius is the goal of what has come to be known as the "Cold Chain." The cold chain, one of the many components of proper vaccine storage, begins with manufacturing, moves through the Federal and Provincial distribution channels and ends when the vaccine is administered. A vaccine can be wasted if it is exposed to temperatures outside the appropriate range. This waste is a significant, yet preventable liability. The Health Unit is working closely with front line health care facilities to improve the awareness of and adherence to the guidelines for proper vaccine storage.
If your office contains ministry vaccine (received from the health unit) the fridge temperatures must be recorded and cleared twice a day. If there is a temperature that is out of range, either below 2?C or above 8?C, it is very important that you contact your local public health unit immediately at 613-345-5685 or 613-283-2740.
