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Many vaccines ruined by improper refrigeration

Infection Control Monitor, December 7, 2007

Hospitals may want to take a close look at the temperature settings for refrigerators in which they store vaccines.

A report this week said many vaccines are ruined by poor refrigeration, forcing thousands of American children to be revaccinated each year. Ruined vaccines are a public health threat because children given weak vaccinations are unprotected against dangerous diseases, reported the Associated Press (AP). The problem accounts for a large part of the $20 million in waste incurred by the federal Vaccines for Children program.

The CDC estimates that hundreds of thousands of doses of vaccines against diseases such as flu, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, mumps, measles, chicken pox, and the cervical cancer virus, are thrown out each year because of improper refrigeration at clinics, hospitals, and doctors' offices, the AP reported. In one case, a clinic in St. Cloud, MN had to revaccinate 8,600 patients, most of them children.

Spoilage often results from a combination of factors, such as a refrigerator malfunctioning or not being set or maintained at the proper temperature and failure of workers responsible for regularly logging the temperature to recognize when the readings are off. Hospitals should be sure staff know the proper temperature range for storing vaccines and what to do if they encounter a problem. Hospitals can also equip refrigerators with alarms that sound when the temperature goes out of range.

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