Maintain cold chain

The vaccines are delivered 'actively cooled'. This means that the vaccines are transported in a refrigerated truck. It is important for the quality of the vaccines that the vaccines are placed in the refrigerator in the original packaging as soon as possible after delivery, at the latest within 1 hour after delivery. During that hour, the vaccines must be in a room / environment with a temperature between 2 and 21 ° C. If the cold chain is interrupted, the vaccines may have a shorter shelf life and less effectiveness. No cooling boxes and no cooling packs are supplied with the vaccines.
Keep vaccines continuously cool between 2 ° C and 8 ° C.

To maintain the cold chain, you must comply with a number of measures within your organization. These are:

• That staff is available at the time of delivery to put the vaccines in the refrigerator.
• It is important for the quality of the vaccines that the vaccines are placed in the refrigerator in the original packaging as soon as possible after delivery and at the latest within 1 hour. During that hour the vaccines must be in a room / environment with a temperature between 2 ° C and 21 ° C.
• Keep the flu and pneumococcal vaccines continuously cool: between 2 ° C and 8 ° C. If the cold chain is interrupted, the vaccines may have a shorter shelf life and less effectiveness.
• The pneumococcal vaccine is even more sensitive to temperature changes than the flu vaccine because it is a less stable vaccine. The quality requirements for the storage of pneumococcal vaccines have been tightened to ensure that vaccines are stored under the correct conditions.
• The vaccines should not be removed from the packaging.
• Make sure there is adequate cooling capacity for all vaccines.
• If you want to transport the vaccines yourself, make sure you use a suitable method of (refrigerated) transport. You can transport the vaccines to be taken with you in an insulated, well-sealed cool box / box. You place the vaccines in the box and put one or two frozen ice packs on top (depending on the size of the box and the amount of vaccines).
• Important: To prevent the vaccines from freezing, use a partition (for example, a piece of cardboard or Styrofoam) to ensure that the vaccines are not directly on the frozen cooling element.
• Remove the vaccines from the refrigerator for packaging as soon as possible before transport, keep the transport time as short as possible and, upon receipt, return the vaccines to the depot immediately in a controlled refrigerator between 2 ° C and 8 ° C. Optimal is 5 ° C. RIVM recommends driving directly to each address at multiple depots instead of delivering multiple addresses in one round. In the above way you can maintain the cold chain as well as possible.
• If you foresee that you will not be able to properly transport the vaccines, please contact SNPG. We can then jointly look for a solution that is suitable for your situation.
• If the vaccines have been stored below 2 degrees, you must always complete the interrupted cold chain notification form .
• If the vaccines have been stored above 8 ° C for more than 2 hours or if stored above 21 ° C regardless of the length of time, you must complete an interrupted cold chain notification form . You will be contacted as soon as possible to find a solution.