POST 00960E : VVM USE / INDONESIA

POST 00960E : VVM USE / INDONESIA 5 August 2006 _____________________________________ Anton Widjaya (mailto:[email protected]) and Vanda Moniaga (mailto:[email protected]) both from PATH/Indonesia share the following experience on VVM use. _____________________________________ Use of Vaccine Vial Monitors to Manage Vaccines after the Recent Earthquake in Yogyakarta Indonesia has applied vaccine vial monitors (VVMs) to all its EPI vaccines except for the BCG vaccines (due to economic reasons). It is used forMeasles, OPV, DTP and DTP-HB, HB, TT and DT vaccines. This application is very helpful to supplement the "Earliest Expiry First Out" (EEFO) system and it improves the confidence of the health workers at all service levels regarding the "quality" of the vaccine to be delivered. During the May 2006 earthquake centered in Yogyakarta (on the island of Java in Indonesia), much of the infrastructure was damaged including the cold store facilities at the district and health centers. Electricity supply was out for some days and generators were not functioning or used. By observing the VVM condition on the vaccines, health workers were able to decide which vaccines were still viable for use and which needed to be discarded. In the disaster areas, VVMs on the OPV vials were already reaching the usage limit, giving visual indications to health workers that vaccines needed to be discarded and re-supplied. The other vaccines with VVMs still showing good condition were not discarded and could still be used to reduce wastage. As for the BCG, the MOH decided to discard all BCG vaccines because there was no indicator to show the heat exposure effect in a non-functioning cold chain condition. In total, vaccine in 5 districts and more than 50 health centers (an estimate of up to 50,000 doses) was saved from being wasted due to the presence of VVM on the vials. The practicability of VVM as an indicator that can be read visually without any accessory devices is a great advantage. This is one example how the use of VVM is able to reduce vaccine wastage and improve health workers' confidence in vaccine quality before administration. Anton Widjaya and Vanda Moniaga PATH/Indonesia Immunization Team ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Visit the TECHNET21 Website at http://www.technet21.org You will find instructions to subscribe, a direct access to archives, links to reference documents and other features. ______________________________________________________________________________ To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message to : mailto:[email protected] Leave the subject area BLANK In the message body, write unsubscribe TECHNET21E ______________________________________________________________________________ The World Health Organization and UNICEF support TechNet21. The TechNet21 e-Forum is a communication/information tool for generation of ideas on how to improve immunization services. It is moderated by Claude Letarte and is hosted in cooperation with the Centre de coopération internationale en santé et développement, Québec, Canada (http://www.ccisd.org) ______________________________________________________________________________