Need to move your vaccines from one place to another?
That might be more difficult than you think.
Transporting Vaccines Safely
Why would you need to move your vaccines?
Lots of reasons, including:
- a temporary power outage
- a vaccine clinic at an off-site location or clinic
- to redistribute vaccines between clinics (should not be done routinely)
- moving office locations
Why do you need to be careful when transporting your vaccines?
Because vaccines are very temperature sensitive and must be stored at the proper temperature. If your vaccines get too hot or too cold while being transported, then they likely won’t be effective anymore and will have to be replaced.
“The time needed to transport should be less than 8 hours and vaccine should be placed in a stable storage unit as quickly as possible .”
Vaccine Storage & Handling Toolkit
Fortunately, you can safely transport your vaccines if you plan ahead and have:
- a hard sided coolor or styrofoam vaccine shipping container
- conditioned frozen water bottles
- insulating material
- a temperature monitoring device
Except in emergency situations, you should also contact your VFC program before you transport vaccines to see if they have any specific instructions for you to follow.
What shouldn’t you do?
You should not use dry ice, attempt to transport multi-dose vials that have already been opened, or transport frozen and refrigerated vaccines in the same container.
And once transported, transfer the vaccines quickly to a new storage refrigerator or freezer, as appropriate, continuing to monitor and log temperatures.
What to Know About Transporting Vaccines
Be prepared before transporting your vaccines to another location so that they don’t get too hot or too cold.
More on Transporting Vaccines
- CDC – Packing Vaccines for Transport during Emergencies
- AAP – Safe Vaccine Transport
- CDC – Vaccine Storage & Handling Toolkit
- Temperature Sensitivity of Vaccines
- How easy is it to freeze vaccine during transport?
- Guidelines for emergency vaccine transport and short-term storage of refrigerated vaccines
- Refrigerated Vaccine Transport Log
- Guidelines for emergency vaccine transport and short-term storage of frozen vaccines
- Frozen Vaccine Transport Log
- Hourly Vaccine Temperature Log
- Checklist of Best Practices for Vaccination Clinics Held at Satellite, Temporary, or Off-Site Locations
- Preventing Freezing In Cold Boxes And Vaccine Carriers
- Cold chain, vaccines and safe-injection equipment management
- Ask the Experts about Vaccine Storage and Handling
- Vaccine Management Plan
- WHO – The vaccine cold chain