The importance of a contingency plan for safe, quality vaccination

 You already know that in order to guarantee a safe and quality vaccination, immunobiologicals need to be stored in appropriate equipment, in ideal working conditions.

But what do you do if something unexpected happens? Contingency plans exist for these situations! Contingency plans are nothing more than pre-planning for any eventualities that may occur. For example: equipment failure, problems with the electricity supply, natural disasters and so on.

It should be written in the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) format and have 3 objectives:

• To provide guidance in the event of a power failure, a general breakdown in the generator set and failure of refrigeration equipment;
• Reduce the loss of immunobiologicals and preserve the continuity of vaccination;
• Disseminate and provide information on the operation and organization of the equipment to the professionals involved.

Surveillance and security professionals should also be trained to identify problems that could compromise the integrity of vaccines and report them to the establishment's technical manager, especially at weekends and holidays.

Always remember that equipment failure is a preventable reason, so it's important to keep up to date with preventive equipment maintenance!

What actions should be included in the Contingency Plan?

• Keeping the chambers closed and strictly monitoring the internal temperature in the event of an interruption in the electricity supply;
• Transfer the vaccines to a thermal box if the power is not restored and the temperature of the storage equipment is close to + 7°C;
• Have sufficient quantities of frozen reusable reels to be used for packing immunobiologicals in thermal boxes;
• Use a thermometer in the boxes and keep a close eye on the temperature.

Conclusion

The Contingency Plan is an extremely important procedure for guaranteeing the quality of vaccination when unforeseen events occur. By following the recommended guidelines, it is possible to foresee and avoid most of the most common problems.