Did you know that the Chatham-Kent Public Health plays an important role in making sure that the vaccines you receive are safe and effective? Public Health Nurses in Chatham-Kent inspect every location that stores publicly funded vaccine.

This is called a Cold Chain Inspection. Inspections occur at all doctors’ offices, long term care facilities, retirement homes, pharmacies and hospitals at least once a year or as required.

Public Health Nurses check these sites to ensure proper storage and handling of vaccine. All providers who store vaccine are required to check and record the temperature in their fridges twice a day.  The temperature in the fridge must be between 2 and 8 degrees Celsius at all times.  This starts from the time of making the vaccine until they are administered to you or your family.

If a vaccine is exposed to a temperature outside of this range, it effectiveness could be decreased.  This is called a “Cold Chain Incident” and will be investigated by our nursing staff to determine the cause and ensure corrective action is taken to preserve the efficacy and safety of the vaccines effected and to minimize the wastage of publicly funded vaccines.

Call 519-355-1071 ext. 5900 to speak directly with a Public Health Nurse

Cold Chain Inspections… It’s What We Do!