Managing vaccines and other refrigerated medicines

Table of contents

Module 1 – Prevention and preparedness | Managing vaccines and other refrigerated medicines

The temperature of vaccine and medicines fridges must remain between +2 °C and +8 °C. To ensure temperature maintenance, your fridges must be stored in well-ventilated rooms with good circulation. Aim to monitor and record all fridge temperatures at the start and end of each day.

Develop a contingency plan for managing your vaccines and other refrigerated medicines during power outages. You may consider contacting local pharmacies and hospitals to establish plans for your practice to store vaccines and medicines in their fridges, should you lose power.

If you have a plan or intend to develop a plan to relocate vaccines before or during an event, ensure that you have the necessary transport and cooling equipment (i.e., ice and gel packs) available to do so. Visit the for in-depth advice.

You may also consider installing uninterrupted power supply (UPS) battery back-up systems for your fridges. These systems will automatically provide power to your fridges when the main power supply is cut off, or when there is a drop in voltage in the electricity supply network. They then shut off automatically when your main power supply resumes. UPS battery back-up systems typically last 36–48 hours and when power is restored the batteries are automatically recharged.

We recommend becoming familiar with your local state or territory health department’s vaccine management guidelines. The Department of Health’s outlines the basic principles for safe vaccine management.

Visit the RACGP’s Standards for general practices (5^th edition) Criterion GP6.1 - Maintaining vaccine potency for guidance on how you can meet acceptable cold chain management standards for accreditation purposes.

Take action

Add a contingency plan for managing your vaccines and other refrigerated medicines during power outages to your emergency response plan. An example of what this may look like can be found below.
Consider what type of storage options you have available within your practice, such as high-sitting storage shelves.
Contact local practices, pharmacies and hospitals to seek inspiration from and establish plans for your practice to store vaccines and medicines in their fridges, if needed.
Ensure that you have the necessary transport and cooling equipment (i.e., ice and gel packs) available to move temperature-sensitive medicines to a new location. Visit the for in-depth advice.
Consider installing uninterrupted power supply (UPS) battery back-up systems for your fridges.
Become familiar with your local state or territory health department’s vaccine management guidelines. The Department of Health’s outlines the basic principles for safe vaccine management.
Visit the RACGP’s Standards for general practices (5^th edition) Criterion GP6.1 - Maintaining vaccine potency for guidance on how you can meet acceptable cold chain management standards for accreditation purposes.

Example contingency plan

Vaccine and other refrigerated medicines management: Contingency plan
Stock	New location in case of emergency	Further details
	[Insert full address of temporary storage location on clear instructions of new storage location (e.g. a high shelf at your practice)]	[Include information on how to transport stock, how long stock can be kept at new location, etc.]

Did you know you can now log your CPD with a click of a button?

Create Quick log

Advertising