This page presents a list of resources that can help to improve the preparedness and response capabilities of health personnel in maintaining vaccine integrity during emergencies. Resources are organised as follows:
- Guidance on responding to temperature excursions
- Job aids for healthcare workers
- Forms for reporting temperature excursions
- Waste management in an emergency
- Template SOPs for responding to emergencies
- Country case studies
- EVM requirements for health personnel
If you are aware of other resources that shold be listed, please contact the page curator listed above.
Guidance on responding to temperature excursions
The following resources provide specific guidance on how staff can respond to temperature excursions, and can be used as source material when developing new guidance.
| Title | Author | Year | Type | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Handbook for Vaccine & Cold Chain Handlers, 2nd edition | India Ministry of Health and Family Welfare | 2016 | Guidance | English |
| Vaccine Storage & Handling Toolkit | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) | 2024 | Tool | English |
| Responding to errors in vaccine storage, handling and administration | UK Health Security Agency | 2022 | Guidance | English |
| The use of vaccines that have been temporarily stored outside the recommended temperature range | UK Health Security Agency | 2019 | Guidance | English |
| Management of temperature excursions with Janssen Covid-19 vaccine | South Africa National Department of Health | 2021 | Guidance | English |
| How to monitor temperatures in the vaccine supply chain | UNICEF, World Health Organization (WHO) | 2015 | Guidance | English, French |
Job aids for healthcare workers
Job-aids provide concise instructions on how heathcare workers should perform a specific task. They are typically presented as one- or two-page documents that can be printed and displayed where the task will be performed. They can also be presented as short training videos.
| Title | Author | Year | Type | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What to Do When a Vaccine Refrigerator Breaks Down | Immunization Academy | 2018 | Training | English |
| Packing Vaccines for Transport during Emergencies | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) | 2010 | Poster/infographic | English |
| Checklist for emergency storage including power or refrigerator failure | Department of Health and Aged Care, Australian Government | 2019 | Guidance | English |
| Handling a Temperature Excursion in Your Vaccine Storage Unit | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) | 2000 | Guidance | English |
Forms for reporting temperature excursions
The following forms are used by healthcare workers in various countries report temperature excursions.
| Title | Author | Year | Type | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vaccine Cold Chain Incident Exposure/Wastage Report | Ontario Government | 2020 | Report | English |
| Cold Chain Breach (CCB) reporting form | Department of Health and Aged Care, Australian Government | 2025 | Report | English |
Waste management in an emergency
| Title | Author | Year | Type | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Four steps for the sound management of health-care waste in emergencies | World Health Organization (WHO) | 2000 | Guidance | English |
| Guidelines for safe disposal of unwanted pharmaceuticals in and after emergencies | World Health Organization (WHO) | 1999 | Guidance | English, French, Indonesian, Spanish |
Template SOPs for responding to emergencies
The EVM model SOPs provide detailed guidance on good practice for many of the routine tasks encountered in immunization logistics and to provide general guidance on writing and managing SOPs. Two model SOPs related to responding to emergencies are provided, which can be adapted and translated to suit local needs: Responding to emergencies in fixed storage locations (EVM-SOP-E3-01) and Responding to emergencies during vaccine transport operations (EVM-SOP-E7-06).
| Title | Author | Year | Type | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EVM Model SOP manual | World Health Organization (WHO) | 2013 | Guidance | English, French |
Country case studies
| Title | Author | Year | Type | Language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Improving emergency preparedness of subnational vaccine stores in Ukraine: co-creation and implementation of on-site functional simulation exercises | Yevgenii Grechukha, Soulemane Kone, Oleg Benes, Maricel Castro | 2026 | Journal article | English |
EVM requirements for health personnel
Effective Vaccine Management (EVM) is a global initiative to increase immunization coverage through the continuous improvement of vaccine supply chains. EVM defines almost 900 requirements that a vaccine supply chain needs to meet. The following EVM requirements provide a good summary of the standards that needs to be met in ensuring health personnel are capable of handling cold chain disruptions. Click the link for details on each requirement. For a full list of EVM requirements that can be filtered by criteria and category, refer to the Setting the standard page of the EVM website.
| Category | Code | Requirement |
| C4.3 Knowledge & understanding | R0273 | Responsible staff are knowledgeable of the contingency plans for power loss, refrigeration equipment breakdown, and other storage emergencies. |
| C4.3 Knowledge & understanding | R0285 | Responsible staff know the contingency plans for vehicle breakdown or other transport emergency. |
| C5.3 SOPs | R0308 | The facility has a vaccine storage emergency contingency plan. |
| C5.3 SOPs | R0318 | The facility has a vaccine transport emergency contingency plan(s). |
| C5.3 SOPs | R0319 | Vaccine transportation vehicles have vaccine transport emergency contingency plans. |
| Performance | R0496 | Appropriate action is taken to protect vaccines in the event of refrigeration equipment breakdown, power loss or other storage emergency. |
| Output | R0627 | Actions taken in response to vaccine transportation emergencies are recorded. |