It may be time consuming, but monitoring and logging vaccine temperatures is essential when storing vaccines. In fact, monitoring vaccine storage temperature plays a key role in maintaining the cold chain of vaccines and ensuring that vaccine effectiveness is not compromised. 

The United States Department of Health's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just released the latest version of its vaccine toolkit. This updated 2020 document lays out the best practices and government recommendations for storing and handling vaccines. It’s an essential set of guidelines for anyone who works with vaccines.

 The CDC Vaccine Storage and Handling Toolkit outlines the best practices for vaccine storage and handling based on Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) guidelines, product information from vaccine manufacturers, and scientific studies. Supporting information, recommendations and resources are included in the Toolkit.

For the most part, all the information that was in the 2018 version is still in the 2019 Toolkit, and in the same order and sections, with several small changes throughout. The reduction in length of the Vaccine Storage and Handling Toolkit from 81 pages to 48 pages is primarily due to a more compact font, formatting and Table of Contents. The document layout and many of the graphics have also been redesigned.

Summer is a time for vacationing and travel, and with that comes a large number of health risks. A newly updated version of the CDC Health Information for International Travel (“The Yellow Book”) is now available online to assist healthcare providers in preparing patients for trips overseas.

On April 20, 2017, the CDC released the online report General Best Practice Guidelines for Immunization. This new report is intended to replace the 2011 document titled ‘General Recommendations on Immunization’.