KEYWORDS:
Keywords: Vaccine management, Inventory control, Vaccines for Children Program, private providers

BACKGROUND:
Background: The California VFC program supplies 2.45 million doses of vaccine to over 1250 Los Angeles County (LAC) private providers annually. VFC has established safeguards to control the amount of vaccine private providers receive. Providers however still can accumulate more vaccine than needed.

OBJECTIVE:
Objective: To decrease the amount of vaccine wasted in VFC private provider offices.

METHOD:
Methods: The LAC based VFC representatives developed a protocol to minimize vaccine loss in VFC provider offices. Clinics possessing vaccine that could not be used by the expiration date or with excessive inventories were targeted. The VFC representatives were alerted about vaccine inventory issues through State VFC order/inventory forms, governmental (EPSDT) and non-governmental agencies, VFC site visits, or directly from the provider. VFC representatives visited identified providers, counseled clinic staff on vaccine inventory management, and when warranted, performed a full quality assurance review and immunization chart audit. After confirming proper vaccine storage practices were maintained, VFC representatives transferred the vaccines to other VFC providers or to the LAC Immunization Program depot for re-distribution. The transfer process was monitored from September 2001 to September 2002.

RESULT:
Results: A total of 17,942 doses of vaccine valued at $339,173 CDC contract price ($580,665 private sector cost) were transferred. A total of 110 vaccine transfers were performed. Each transfer averaged 2 hours. At an average staff cost of $23.40/hour, a total of $5,148 in personnel funds was expended by implementing the protocol. Providers are increasingly aware the transfer process and more readily contact their VFC representative when inventory related issues arise.

CONCLUSION:
Conclusions: Direct VFC representative intervention in vaccines recovery results in significant cost savings to the VFC program.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Learning Objective: Identify strategies to decrease vaccine loss in VFC private provider offices.