Extreme weather warnings: Protect your vaccines

Dear Pharmacy,

With flood warnings in areas surrounding Sydney, power outages can be more common. To check emergency evacuation orders see NSW SES; weather conditions see Bureau of Meteorology; planned and unplanned power outage areas, see Ausgrid.

Ensuring your pharmacy is prepared in the event of a power outage

It is important that all staff are aware of your pharmacy’s cold chain back-up plan for power outages and are familiar with protocols for cold chain breaches. Review the following checklist to ensure your pharmacy and staff are prepared.

Checklist

• Ensure all staff hold a certificate in NSW Health Vaccine Storage and Cold Chain Management online training module.

• Ensure that staff at the pharmacy are familiar with the process for Managing a Power Failure - 'Strive for 5'.

• Ensure that the pharmacy has written protocols for managing a power outage and cold chain breach

• Ensure that the pharmacy has the required equipment on site to respond to a power failure.

Equipment

All pharmacies MUST have one of the following alternative vaccine storage options in the event of a power failure. The alternative storage must have the capacity to store ALL vaccines currently held in your vaccine fridge(s):

1. A manual back-up power supply (e.g. generator)
2. A automated back-up power supply (e.g. battery/solar back-up)
3. A monitored refrigerator offsite (e.g. at a local hospital or medical centre) — ensure that an agreement has been put in place with the relevant organisation before the event, and also consider that this organisation may be affected by the same power failure
4. A cooler — each facility should ensure that they have enough coolers for an emergency.

If your pharmacy experiences a cold chain breach:

1. For COVID-19 vaccines: Contact the Vaccine Operations Centre (VOC)

Vaccine Operations Centre (VOC): 1800 318 208 COVID19VaccineOperationsCentre@Health.gov.au

The VOC hours of operation are between 7.00 am to 10.00 pm AEST (Currently 9pm)

2. For other vaccines: Contact the vaccine manufacturer  

For private vaccines, contact the vaccine manufacturer for advice.

Is your fridge affected by a power outage?

Check your vaccine fridge:

• Check min/max thermometer – did temperatures go above 8°C?
• Download data logger – how long were temperatures above 8°C? 

If your vaccine fridge went above 8°C: (with the exception of a brief rise in temperature up to 12°C for less than 15 minutes) 

• Isolate vaccines and label DO NOT USE
• Immediately contact VOC on 1800 318 208 and vaccine manufacturer for advice
• DO NOT use the vaccines
• DO NOT discard the vaccines 
• Await further instruction from the VOC/manufacturer

Contacting the Primary Health Network (PHN) 

If you need any assistance, guidance or resources on cold chain management, please contact the Immunisation team at Central and Eastern Sydney PHN on 1300 986 991, option 3.

Immunisation team  
immunisation@cesphn.com.au