Ultra-low temperature vaccine management

Course information

Overview: Vaccine management processes are designed to ensure product quality and comprises an integrated system of equipment, procedures, records, and activities. Effective vaccine management requires that personnel who handle and distribute vaccines have the education, training, and experience required to perform their jobs effectively. In short, they must have expertise.

Aim: This course is meant to provide the background and context for the ultra-cold chain management for emergency Ebola vaccination and certain COVID-19 vaccines. The course aims to build a mental model in ULT vaccine management.

Course duration: Approximately one hour.

Certificates: A Certificate of Participation will be available to all participants who complete the course.

What you'll learn

• Explain principles of vaccine management in outbreak response situations
• Define six terms frequently used in risk management
• Distinguish between detection, prevention, and protection nature in risk control
• Identify specific benefits and risk reductions that come from effective vaccine management practices
• Explain safe working principles in dry ice operations
• Explain the elements of temperature monitoring of ULT vaccines
• Correctly interpret temperature monitoring data for making informed decisions
• Define main objectives and principles of waste management involved in Ebola virus disease vaccination and COVID-19 vaccinations

Who this course is for

• This training is intended for health workers who are involved in vaccine management operations in immunization programmes.

Course contents

• Introduction:

  Welcome message for the course and a short overview.

• Module 1: Operational and managerial vaccine management functions and outbreak situations:

  This module provides the background and context for the ultra-cold chain management for emergency Ebola vaccination and certain Covid-19 vaccines. The session describes vaccine management principles and their application to outbreak situations in general. This sets the stage for procedures followed in handling Ebola and certain COVID-19 vaccines in the field.

• Module 2: Risk approach in vaccine management:

  The purpose of this module is to highlight the importance of risk thinking to maintain both the quality of operations as well as the product itself. This module also aims participants to have a working knowledge of risk questioning concepts. The concepts presented here will be used repeatedly during the rest of the course.

• Module 3: Working with dry ice:

  Shipments containing dry ice pose several risks during transit, including a risk of explosion, suffocation, and tissue damage. This module explains safe working principles with dry ice and handling of dry ice in international vaccine shipments.

• Module 4: Critical role of temperature monitoring in ULT cold chain operations at the country level:

  Monitoring vaccine temperatures throughout the cold chain is of paramount importance to ensure quality. Ebola vaccine and the emerging COVID-19 vaccines present the world with new challenges and additional opportunities to establish best practices for safeguarding human health. This module analyses the critical role of temperature monitoring in ULT operations.

• Module 5: Vaccine waste management:

  Handling waste around the vaccination activities is especially critical. Medical waste generated by Ebola virus disease vaccination activities require special attention and must be safely collected, treated, and finally disposed (as part inherent of any vaccination activity. The module discusses general waste management principles around immunization activities with special focus on the waste generated by the Ebola vaccinations.