Page 3686 - Week 10 - Thursday, 19 September 2019
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• Monday and Wednesday – Southside
• Tuesday and Thursday – Northside
(3) As there may be several reasons that an immunisation provider does not have adequate stocks of influenza vaccine in their fridge to meet demand, it is difficult to ascertain the consequences of an urgent delivery taking one week. As discussed above, to alleviate the risk of delay in receiving vaccines, VMU communicates regularly with immunisation providers to appropriately manage vaccine stock and ensure adequate supply of vaccine in preparation for immunisation clinics. Ordering and receiving of stock for scheduled immunisation clinics should be planned well in advance.
(4) VMU employs two additional temporary staff for six months each year to assist in managing vaccine demand during the height of the influenza vaccination campaign. As discussed above, in order to meet demand, VMU schedule urgent deliveries twice a week to Southside and Northside providers. This urgent delivery schedule is in addition to daily deliveries by two staff to an average of 5-6 providers. VMU currently have four permanent staff managing this workload. Data available from VIMS is used to predict future stock needs for a provider, reliant on fridges being adequate in size to safely hold larger volumes of stock.
(5) (i)
(a) 2017-18
• Identified on delivery: 7
• Identified by provider phoning in: 13
(b) 2018-19
• Identified on delivery: 21
• Identified by provider phoning in: 47
(ii) ACT Health Directorate has advised that respect for commercial confidentiality means it is unable to provide details of the locations of cold chain breaches. All instances of a cold chain breach are managed by the Immunisation Unit in accordance with national and local Guidelines to minimise the risk of a member of the public receiving a non-viable vaccine.
(iii) When a cold chain breach is detected by delivery staff or notified to the Immunisation Unit, the provider is advised not to use the stock and a quarantined sign is placed on the identified fridge until an assessment can be made as to the viability of the vaccines. Education is provided to the vaccine provider based on the National Vaccine Storage Guideline: “Strive for 5”. Recommendations are made to the provider on how to meet the requirements of the guidelines.
(iv) VMU has recently trialled newer dataloggers with immunisation providers who have had previous temperature control issues in their vaccine fridges. This trial has identified that this newer technology is more accurate than the dataloggers currently is use. The ACT Immunisation Unit will shortly commence a procurement process to purchase more of the new dataloggers to distribute to all providers’ fridges in the ACT community. The Immunisation Unit anticipates this will further reduce the number of cold chain breaches and minimise vaccine wastage. Where a cold chain breach has been detected, education based on the National Vaccine Storage Guideline: “Strive for 5” is provided to the vaccine provider including the importance of regularly monitoring fridge temperature.
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