Updated October 23, 2025
Reporting Cold Chain Incidents
If a temperature excursion occurs while publicly funded vaccines are in the pharmacy’s possession, pharmacies must report the cold chain incident immediately to their local public health unit.
Follow the steps outlined in the SOP: Reporting Cold Chain Incidents (CCIs):
- Quarantine the affected vaccines in the refrigerator and clearly label them “Do Not Use’. Do NOT discard vaccine.
- Contact your local health unit to initiate a cold chain consultation process.
- Complete the cold chain incident report form and submit to your local public health unit for review.
- Public health will assess the incident and determine vaccine usability.
Do not discard vaccine until public health has provided direction. In certain incidences, based on storage data, public health may determine some vaccines remain potent and safe for use even after a temperature excursion.
Resources
- SOP: Reporting Cold Chain Incidents (CCIs)
- BCCDC Vaccine Management webpage
- Cold chain incident process for publicly funded influenza and COVID-19 vaccines: Pharmacy distributors and pharmacies - this flowchart outlines who is responsible for resolving a CCI depending on whether it occurs at the distributor, during transit or in the pharmacy’s possession, and can also be found on the BCCDC Vaccine Management webpage.
Identifier/red dotting procedure: physically marking impacted vials
To ensure that all staff members who handle vaccines are made aware of vials that underwent a temperature excursion, the vials must be red-dotted or visibly marked to denote which vials have been impacted. This is especially critical in the event that subsequent temperature excursions occur to the affected vials which could impact the usability of the vaccine.
Redistributing impacted vials: CCI documentation
Redistributing impacted vaccines to new sites is considered very high risk. See Redistributing vaccines/pharmacy transfers
Sub-lots are used in health authorities to track vaccine that have undergone temperature excursions and are being redistributed. Creating a sub-lot in ImmsBC is not required at the pharmacy level. However, if impacted vials are transported to another clinic for use, all related CCI documentation must travel along with the vaccines. This documentation should include:
- Date of the cold chain incident
- Summary of the incident
- Total time of temperature excursion
- Max excursion temperature
Visit Vaccine storage and handling for more information on best practices.