Published online:
25 September 2012
These guidelines are for practices to ensure that vaccines delivered within New Zealand have been stored correctly to maximise their effectiveness. These guidelines supercede the Vaccine Storage and Distribution National Standards 2002 and supplement the cold chain policy in the Immunisation Handbook 2011.
The system of transporting and storing vaccines within the recommended temperature range of +2°C to +8°C from the place of their manufacture to the point of vaccine administration is called the ‘cold chain’. The integrity of the cold chain is dependent not only on the equipment used, but also the people involved and the practices they undertake.