Table 3.

Vaccine husbandry: key points for veterinary practitioners

Vaccines (and particularly adjuvanted vaccines) have an optimum storage temperature that is usually between 2 and 8 °C (domestic refrigerators should be maintained at 4 °C). These products should not be frozen or positioned adjacent to the freezer compartment of the refrigerator, and refrigerator temperature should be monitored regularly. Vaccines transported into the field should also be subject to continuation of the “cold chain”. Freeze‐dried vaccines should be reconstituted immediately before use with appropriate diluent or liquid vaccine given concurrently (as per the manufacturer's recommendations). It is bad practice and contraindicated to make up the vaccines anticipated to be used during the day first thing in the morning. Some vaccine components (e.g. CDV, FHV‐1) are particularly labile in this regard and so these vaccines may not induce adequate immunity if not reconstituted just before use. Vaccines should only be mixed together in the same syringe if this is specified as acceptable in the manufacturer's datasheets. Syringes and needles for vaccines should not be reutilised. Vaccine injection sites should not be sterilised with alcohol or other disinfectant as this may inactivate infectious (MLV) vaccines. Vaccines should be “in date” and precise details of batch numbers, components and site of injection should be noted in the animal's medical record.