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We have MR Vaccine for a campaign that had to be suspended due to current COVID-19 circumstances. These vaccines had been stored between minus 15 and minus 25 deg C at the Primary Store. Later, Vaccines were supplied to the District stores where they had been stored between plus 2 and 8 deg C.
We want to store them back into Primary Store between minus 15 and minus 25 deg C again. The vaccine has a valid shelf life, expiry, and VVM are OK. Can anyone kindly advise if storing them back to a minus temperature from a positive temperature would cause any harm to the MR Vaccine?
"Measles vaccine and MMR components in lyophilized form are quite stable.Measles vaccine and MMR components in lyophilized form are quite stable.They are stable at temperatures below zero and are not damaged by freezing andrefreezing. At between 2°C and 8°C dried measles vaccine or MMR maintain minimum potency for more than two years. At room temperature (20°C to 25°C)the minimum required infectivity titer of measles or MMR virus is still retained forat least one month and it can be maintained for at least one week at 37°C."
Reference: Temperature sensitivity of vaccines ( WHO/IVB/06.10) - page 27.
https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/69387/WHO_IVB_06.10_eng.pdf?sequence=1
Dear Mohammad,
Maricel kindly pointed out the right reference. Refreezing might be fine. Also it would be good to avoid resorting to this solution several times in the future for the same batches for other various reasons (like freezing/defreezing/freezing back the same batch again several times).
I am sure you are already considering and it would be important to carefully manage the reverse logistics (from districts to the primary store), and bundling with the right diluent batches at all times. Definitely, diluents are not to be frozen as usual practice.
Good luck,
Murat
I wish to thank Maricel Castro for the very helpful reply and reference.
Also thanks to Murat Hakan Ozturk for the useful advice.
Regards
Mohammad Hamidul Islam
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