Freezing temperatures in the vaccine cold chain: A systematic literature review
Abstract
The dangers of accidental freezing of vaccines in the cold chain have prompted studies throughout the globe to better characterize the risk. To date, there has been no systematic review of these studies. This analysis highlights that accidental freezing is pervasive and occurs across all segments of the cold chain. Between 14% and 35% of refrigerators or transport shipments were found to have exposed vaccine to freezing temperatures, while in studies that examined all segments of distribution, between 75% and 100% of the vaccine shipments were exposed. More rigorous study designs were associated with higher levels of freeze exposure. As more expensive, freeze-sensitive vaccines are introduced into immunization schedules, freeze prevention will become increasingly critical for ensuring that the world's children are receiving fully potent vaccine.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Exposure to temperature extremes within vaccine supply chains is relatively common in both developed and developing countries.
“A number of studies have shown that exposure to temperature extremes within vaccine supply chains is relatively common in both developed and developing countries.”
From Using Data to Keep Vaccines Cold in Kenya: Remote Temperature Monitoring With Data Review Teams for Vaccine Management (2019) · cites this paper as [7]
As much as 37% of vaccines are exposed to temperatures below the recommended range in lower-income countries.
“As much as 37% of vaccines are exposed to temperatures below the recommended range in lower-income countries, making this a critical issue to address.7–13”
From Using Data to Keep Vaccines Cold in Kenya: Remote Temperature Monitoring With Data Review Teams for Vaccine Management (2019) · cites this paper as [7]
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Improving cold chain systems: Challenges and solutions
Ashok, A., Brison, M., & LeTallec, Y. (2017) · Vaccine · doi:10.1016/j.vaccine.2016.08.045 · Cited by 308 · see citing works
A thermostable messenger RNA based vaccine against rabies
Stitz, L., Vogel, A., Schnee, M., Voss, D., Rauch, S., Mutzke, T., Ketterer, T., Kramps, T., & Petsch, B. (2017) · PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases · doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0006108 · Cited by 117 · see citing works
Lutukai, M., Bunde, E. A., Hatch, B., Mohamed, Z., Yavari, S., Some, E., Chweya, A., Kania, C., Ross, J. C., Keddem, C., et al. (2019) · Global Health: Science and Practice · doi:10.9745/ghsp-d-19-00157 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
“As 7 – 13 Despite the importance of ensuring appropriate temperature ranges for the storage of vaccines throughout the cold chain, relatively few studies have examined the use and effectiveness of temperature monitoring practices or existing studies have found monitoring practices to be…”
Background
- Authors
- Matthias, D. M., Robertson, J., Garrison, M. M., Newland, S., & Nelson, C.
- Affiliations
- Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- Corresponding author
- Matthias, Dipika M.
- Venue
- Vaccine
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2007-05
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 20
- Pages
- 3980-3986
- ISSN
- 0264-410X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1968929160
- Cited by
- 304
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 2.31
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Vaccine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Medical Laboratory Technology › Quality and Safety in Healthcare
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Pharmaceutical Quality and Counterfeiting
- Social Sciences › Health › Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy
- Keywords
- cold chain, vaccine storage and transport, vaccine potency, vaccine quality, refrigerators, immunization programs
- MeSH terms
- Drug Storage, Freezing, Refrigeration, Temperature, Vaccines
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
