16-3
AVOIDING THE PROBLEM OF SPOILED VACCINES”
Keeping vaccines cold is important. If they get warm before being used,
they spoil and will not protect children against disease.
Vaccines need to be kept cold all the way from the factory where they are made
to the village where a health worker vaccinates the local children. The vaccine
changes hands many times along the way. If at any time the vaccine gets warm (or
in the case of polio vaccine, thaws and is refrozen), it spoils and becomes useless.
Not keeping vaccines cold enough is a very common problem. A great many
vaccines get warm and spoil at some point on the way from factory to child. In fact,
in many countries more than one third of the vaccines given do no good-
because they were not kept cold enough.
In many countries, 1 of every 3 vaccines given to children
does not work to prevent the disease because
the vaccine had spoiled BEFORE it was given.
*These ideas and drawings are from the Expanded Immunization Project in Liberia, Africa. Their Handbook
for Health Workers is an excellent booklet about vaccination and the ‘cold chain’—keeping vaccines cold.
It is available from the following:
Christian Health Association of Liberia
P.O. Box 10-9056-1000
Monrovia 10, Liberia