POST 00266 : URGENT * FAULTY VVMS * URGENT

Post00266 * URGENT * FAULTY VVMS * URGENT * 13 July 2000 CONTENTS 1. SOLUTION NEEDED: FAULTY VVMS Dianne Philips, DOH/SA, kindly shares a problem with the TECHNET which requires urgent solutions! Some, but not all, Vaccine Vial Monitor labels on oral polio vaccine now being supplied are defective. As a result of global constraints on OPV supplies it is seen as better to accept the defective labels and the vaccine - rather than to delay or postpone immunization activities. This requires management solutions that are simple to implement, easily understood by health workers in the field without additional training, and which provide some level of assurance that vaccine quality will be maintained throughout the delivery system. * "If anyone has any suggestions, we would welcome them. This is a matter of some urgency because we are in a very poor stock position after our NIDs, and the supplier has many back-orders waiting for the above consignment." ** Suggestions should go directly to Dianne with a copy to Technet Forum. * Please let us know if your country program is facing similar problems! * Reply to: [[email protected]][email protected][/email], [[email protected]][email protected][/email] ___________________________________________________________________________ From: "Dianne Phillips" To: [[email protected]][email protected][/email] Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2000 08:54:35 +0000 Subject: Faulty VVMs Allan, We are looking for a solution to a problem that is confronting us, and I believe that there are other countries that are in the same boat. Lifelines Technology Inc has informed our supplier of OPV that there was a consignment of VVM labels that contained defective labels, and I quote from the letter: "Specifically, the problem involved the transfer of part or all of the reactive coating in the center of the VVM to the back of the release liner on the next winding of labels near the core of some rolls." In South Africa's case, this involves some 250,000 vials of OPV which are about to be delivered. My first knee-jerk reaction was to reject the consignment, but unfortunately with the global demand on OPV, we cannot source OPV elsewhere at present. (There are other countries standing in the wings, offering to take that consignment if we do not want it.) Our problem is further complicated by the fact that OPV is on a split tender and the other supplier has no problems with their VVMs. We even tried to get extra VVMs to attach to the faulty vials, but these are also currently in short supply. * The solution we have suggested is for the supplier to provide us with small plastic bags (30,000) with labels attached so that when removed from the freezer and dispatched from the depot, the discard date can be written for 6 months hence. (The OPV is packed in boxes of 100, and labelling the boxes will not help, because many small clinics take a few vaccines at a time). We have about 4000 clinics in the country, excluding the maternity wards in hospitals, and the challenge is going to be to get the correct message out to the health workers in the field, so that the immunisation of children is not compromised through vaccine which should have been discarded. I believe that in our case there are 3 batches involved, so we could also use those numbers to monitor the vaccine up to a point. The problem comes in cases where the vaccine is stored frozen at a sub- depot or hospital, how do we monitor the discard date? * If anyone has any suggestions, we would welcome them. This is a matter of some urgency because we are in a very poor stock position after our NIDs, and the supplier has many back-orders waiting for the above consignment. Dianne Phillips Mrs Dianne Phillips Tel: +27 12 3120329 National Cold Chain Manager Fax: +27 12 3244525 Department of Health +27 12 3247501 Private Bag X828 PRETORIA Mobile:+27 82 8069253 SOUTH AFRICA 0001