Tetanus vaccine storage

[T42]

Bought a tetanus vaccine from the pharmacy last week, on prescription, natch.  Have kept it in the door of the fridge pending next GP visit.  Had a nasty thought last night, bunged a thermocouple in beside it: 9°C.  Box says 2-8°C only.  Rest of fridge is within limits and I've moved the box to a shelf.

After ~5 days at that temp, will it still be viable? ISTR that they'll survive up to a week at room temp, but I couldn't swear to it.  Not planning a GP visit for a couple of weeks at least, maybe more: one traumatic experience pain in the arse per week is enough and this week's already booked.

[IJL]

we have data loggers in the fridge and any period outside the 2-8 range has to be run past the county immunization people, they give advise but what they base that on I'm not sure.

I assume you're not in the UK, it seems a strange way of doing things would have been best if the pharmacist gave it.

The NHS is obsessed with the "cold chain"  this story gives me the heeby jeebies, fridges and data loggers have been the bane of my life for the last 18 months

[Regulator]

Thinking back to my days in Zaire (where electricity and refrigeration were intermittent at best at our hospital), I think that although it should be stored in fridge, tetanus vaccine remains stable for quite a while at comparatively high temperatures.

[T42]

I believe so; nonetheless the doc junked it and gave me a new prescription.  He also mumbled something about not giving tetanus vaccine to over-75s, but I'm a couple of months short of that.  Haven't picked up the vaccine yet, I've had enough medicrap in the last 2 months.

[IJL]

Once you have had 5 tet tox vaccines your are covered for life unless you get a wound that is "tetanus prone" ie grossly contaminated with soil or manure etc

[mrcharly-YHT]

Once you have had 5 tet tox vaccines your are covered for life unless you get a wound that is "tetanus prone" ie grossly contaminated with soil or manure etc

I'd had 5 before I was 20 

[hellymedic]

Once you have had 5 tet tox vaccines your are covered for life unless you get a wound that is "tetanus prone" ie grossly contaminated with soil or manure etc

I'd had 5 before I was 20 

Most fully-vaccinated British kids  after around 1962 would have had:

A course of three in infancy
A pre-school booster
A booster around 16

So that's 5 anyway, which should confer lifelong immunity.

[T42]

Once you have had 5 tet tox vaccines your are covered for life unless you get a wound that is "tetanus prone" ie grossly contaminated with soil or manure etc

I had the initial 2 at (I think) 3 months interval then a booster 10 years later.  My GP & I then forgot about it for 20 years.

[chrisbainbridge]

You can get a LFT for tetanus antibodies. We now use it routinely to decide if a booster is needed.

[freeflow]

The industry standard storage temperatures against which medicines are tested are -20°C, 2-8°C, 25°C, 30°C and 45°C. To support a shelf life, real time data for a minimum of three typical batches are required. The shelf life of a medicine is constrained by no chemical degradation greater than 0.2% by weight of the active principle based on the upper 95% confidence interval, or other significant changes in properties or behaviour. The shelf life applies to the supply chain and not the end user, i.e. medicines are designed to be used fairly soon after being supplied to the end user. If storage conditions for the end user apply these will be specified seperately.


So a week at 9°C would not be likely to cause any significant issues. Remember Arrhenius. Reaction rates increase with temp, typically doubling with each 10°C rise in temperature.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Once you have had 5 tet tox vaccines your are covered for life unless you get a wound that is "tetanus prone" ie grossly contaminated with soil or manure etc

I'd had 5 before I was 20 

Most fully-vaccinated British kids  after around 1962 would have had:

A course of three in infancy
A pre-school booster
A booster around 16

So that's 5 anyway, which should confer lifelong immunity.

TBH, I have no idea how many tetanus shots I've had.

Whatever was usual in the UK in the 60s for a 3 year old.

Then every time we had a deep penetrating wound in australia, because I lived on a horse stud, the doc gave us another shot.

That stopped when I had severe burns and reacted badly to the tetanus shot.