Heptavac P Plus left out of fridge

Western Pomise

Hi all,

Quick question,was vaccinating ewe lambs with Heptavac P Plus on Friday afternoon.Bought 250ml one as was doing around 60 lambs and will have another 60 lambs to do in next fortnight, I always seal top of remaining vaccine in bottle with candle wax which keeps it ok till next needed.

We were heading away for the Weekend,asked the young lad to put the bottle into the fridge but unfortunately he forgot to.Were under time pressure Friday evening before heading away.Arrived home today and came across the half used vaccine bottle sitting on table in living room.Blinds down in room for wkd so in darkness but would say ambient temperature was somewhere around 12-18 degrees in room over weekend so I presume the vaccine is useless now as it says on bottle to store in a shaded place between 2-8 degrees.I stuck it in the fridge today.

I would usually store it in the fridge along with other vaccines.

Thanks for any replies.

Western Pomise

Appreciate anyones thoughts on if vaccine is useless now. Thanks.

farawaygrass

If it was me I’d buy a new bottle of it. If you lost a ewe or lamb later you’d only be kicking yourself

10-10-20

Hi, I pulled the product characteristics off the MSD site and it says this:

On that basis, I'd bin it as the effectiveness of the active ingredient has probably been lost as it has been both open and without refrigeration for an extended period.

https://www.hpra.ie/img/uploaded/swedocuments/Licence_VPA10996-146-001_26082021121914.pdf

Ard_MC

Yeah I'd bin it as well. No point in taking the gamble really.

Split47

It's a live vaccine so I'd definitely get a new bottle, just wasting your time otherwise injecting them.

Western Pomise

Thanks for all the replies....threw the remainder of bottle out,expensive lesson for myself to make sure I put vaccines away safely in the fridge myself in future!

As a related question,anecdotally I know a lot of farmers seal the top of medicine bottles such as Alamycin LA or Penstrep,or vaccines like Heptavac P Plus or Covexin by melting candle wax onto the perforated rubber on top of the bottle and place them in a fridge if that is recommended for that medicine iykwim.

As far as I know this 'keeps' the medicine safely as long as it is sealed immediately after use.

I was chatting another sheep farmer one day at a mart and he was saying he uses sellotape to seal the top of a medicine bottle.......to me candle wax would form a better more secure seal.

Do any people here use other methods tp preserve medicines safely?

I remember someone commenting here before that they didn't think 'resealing' a live vaccine like Heptavac P PLus could be done.

I know of a good few men that do (myself included).........and they don't lose lambs by using Heptavac P for example that was opened and used a few weeks previously and then resealed and refrigerated before it's use with next bunch of lambs/ewes.

farawaygrass

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120966822#Comment_120966822

By right it’s meant to be used the day it’s opened but I’ve heard of a few say they seal it and re use it again. I even heard a veterinarian nurse say it one time. Caveat emptor though!

id say you couldn’t do better than candlewax though, especially instead of sellotape. I’ve also heard of Vaseline being used to seal it

10-10-20

Not a pharmacist or chemist, but I know that a lot of these active-ingredient drugs depend on an inert or controlled environment to remain viable and by merely piercing the foil you introduce both oxygen, bacteria or fungal material into a sterile liquid which can promote an infection within the liquid.

It's very similar to an unwanted yeast strain getting into a vat of beer wort where there are ample sugars and a conducive environment for the unwanted or wild yeast to take hold and create an off-flavour within the fermentation.

So yeah, you can probably get away with it for a short period providing that the bottle is maintained at a low temperature and that sterile equipment is used in taking a sample from the bottle, but its a risk as you're then intravenously injecting that unknown organism with potential of it causing an infection right within the bloodstream.

So the guidance on the bottle is there as a way of minimising the risk to the herd by reducing the known high-risk activities (leaving it out of the fridge...) by the administrators of the vaccine.