SCENARIO: Thandi is a healthy 18-month-old toddler, whose grandmother, Mrs. Modise, has brought her to your public sector clinic for her vaccinations. Thandi’s Road to Health Card shows that she has received all her scheduled vaccines on time, up to and including the age of 12 months, and there are no adverse events following immunization recorded on the card. You explain to Mrs. Modise that Thandi is due for her booster hexavalent (DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB) vaccination today, and that this requires just one injection. After you have washed your hands, you remove the vaccine from the cold box at your workstation. Mrs. Modise asks you why you are not storing vaccines in the fridge. She is concerned that vaccines that are not stored properly are not safe to use.
Question: You reassure Mrs. Modise that the:
A. vaccine you are about to use is perfectly safe because it has been stored at the incorrect temperature for only a few hours
B. vaccine you are about to use can safely be stored at room temperature for prolonged periods
C. vaccine you are about to use is perfectly safe because the thermometer in the cold box shows a temperature of 4ºC
D. only reason why you are using the cold box is because you have to avoid opening the vaccine fridge too often