National Vaccine Storage and Handling Guidelines: For Immunization Providers 2026

Vaccines are highly sensitive medical countermeasures and their effectiveness depends on maintaining appropriate storage and handling conditions from manufacturing through to administration. Exposure to temperatures outside recommended ranges, inappropriate light exposure, equipment failures, transportation issues, or other disruptions can reduce vaccine potency and compromise public health outcomes. Vaccine cold chain is the term that is used to reference many of these criteria. It is a continuous process that is managed to ensure vaccines are transported, stored, monitored, and handled under conditions that preserve their safety and effectiveness.

The National Vaccine Storage and Handling Guidelines for Immunization Providers, 2026 provide a national framework for supporting vaccine quality through effective cold chain management practices. By promoting consistent approaches to storage, handling, transportation, monitoring, and incident management the guidelines help strengthen immunization programs, reduce vaccine wastage, and support public confidence in vaccination across Canada.

The guidelines were produced by the Public Health Agency of Canada  in association with subject matter experts from the provinces, territories, private sector, and other federal jurisdictions within Canada and replace the previous version released in 2015 and additional interim guidance for COVID-19 vaccines published in 2021. The guidelines are intended to promote consistent cold chain practices across Canada and complement provincial, territorial, and local immunization policies and procedures.

The full version is available on the Government of Canada publications website:

National Vaccine Storage and Handling Guidelines for Immunization Providers, 2026 (PDF)