NATIONAL COVID-19 VACCINATION OPERATIONS CENTER

AFP Commissioned Officers Club House, Camp Aguinaldo

14 May 2021

ADVISORY NO. 42
Philippine COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment and Vaccination Campaign

Additional Guidance on COVID-19 Vaccine Storage, Handling and Distribution

This Advisory is issued to provide guidance to all Regional and Local Vaccination
Operation Centers (R/LVOCs), Implementing units and Vaccination sites on the storage,
handling and transfer of ALL COVID-19 vaccines. This is aligned with DOH Department
Memorandum No. 2021-0114 dated February 26, 2021 on “Guidelines on the Management and
Administration of the Initial 600,000 Donated SAR COV-2 Vaccine (Vero Cell) Inactivated
CoronaVac (Sinovac) Doses”.

1. Implementation of COVID-19 vaccines, storage, handling and distribution shall be

in line with the EUA issued by FDA.
2. Unopened vials of any COVID-19 vaccine shall be stored accordingly based on the
manufacturer’s prescribed storage temperature requirement and shall be protected
from light.
3. Shelf life of unopened vial is according to expiry date or according to the EUA
provided.
4. Vaccines shall be stored properly from the time they are manufactured until they
are administered.
5. Vaccines exposed to extreme temperatures (outside the recommended temperature)
can reduced potency and protection.
6. A vaccine security and safety officer and an alternate per facility shall be designated
among the health workers managing the vaccines.
THEY SHALL CHECK, TAKE AND RECORD TEMPERATURE
READINGS AT LEAST FOUR (4) TIMES A DAY AT:

8:00 AM, 11:00 AM, 3:00 PM AND 10:00 PM

SEVEN (7) DAYS A WEEK, INCLUDING DURING WEEKENDS AND

HOLIDAYS
7. Contingency plan shall be in place which include alternate person-in-charge of cold
chain storage facilities, back-up storage units in case of primary storage unit failure,
power outages, etc, (e.g. generator). Ideally, other staff should know the correct
temperature for the vaccines, aside from the cold chain manager. The contingency
plan shall be posted in the vaccine refrigerator.
8. If the storage temperatures fluctuate out of the recommended range in a cold room
or vaccine refrigerators, the recommended actions in the DOH Manual of
Operations on Vaccines, Cold Chain and Logistics management version 2018 shall
be followed.
 Lastly, the RVOCs are instructed to ensure the implementation of this Advisory. For
any issues and concerns related to this Advisory, you may email to the NVOC at this email
address, c19vaccineopcen@gmail.com.

For strict compliance.

MYRNA C. CABOTAJE, MD, MPH, CESO III

Undersecretary of Health, Field Implementation and Coordination Team
Chair, National COVID-19 Vaccination Operations Center
Department of Health