Minimizing Waste
Vaccine Coordinators must implement their vaccine management plan for routine and emergency situations consistently and accurately to protect vaccines and minimize preventable vaccine loss. Waste mitigation involves proper storage and handling as well as careful inventory management.
Checklist
Consider posting Only You Can Prevent Vaccine Loss (PDF) near vaccine storage units.
- Order vaccine types and quantities based on patient populations served and usage trends.
- Receive vaccine deliveries and store vaccines immediately.
- Always store and handle vaccines under manufacturer-recommended temperatures.
- Record current, MIN, and MAX on temperature logs twice daily. If temperatures are out of range, act immediately to prevent negligent vaccine loss.
- Rotate stock at least monthly and before ordering to use short-dated vaccines first.
- Remove expired vaccines immediately to prevent administration errors.
- Transfer vaccines that expire within six months if unable to use before expiration.
- Have a plan for emergencies and ensure staff are prepared to respond.
Short-Dated Vaccines
Providers are responsible for vaccines they order. Order a reasonable amount of vaccine to last until the next order period to avoid excess vaccine inventory. Within six months of expiration:
- Outreach to patients who need to be vaccinated to use up doses before they expire.
- Run a report using an electronic health record (EHR) or immunization registry of patients due for soon-to-expire vaccine products.
- Consider patients coming in for other reasons who are due for soon-to-expire vaccine products.
- Consider scheduling immunization-only appointments or holding vaccination clinics.
- Recall those patients using your clinic’s reminder-recall system.
- Transfer vaccines to another active program provider to prevent negligent loss. Prior authorization from the vaccine program is required.
If unable to use or transfer vaccines, submit a return form in myCAvax after doses expire.
Nonviable Vaccines
Remove expired doses from storage units immediately to minimize administration errors. Report spoiled, expired, or wasted doses at myCAvax. Return spoiled and expired vaccines then dispose of wasted vaccines following practice protocols. Read more.
