[Visibility of the vaccine cold chain in Spain]

Over the last fifty years, the implementation of the vaccine cold chain in Spain has gone through different stages. Related published articles, from the first polio vaccination campaigns until the mid-eighties, show a rudimentary and proactive organization with limited resources. 1990 brought a stage of awareness, when national and regional healthcare authorities started to pay greater attention to appropriate material resources. Finally, the last twenty years represent a third period that has brought the modernization of resources, adoption of protocols, training of clinical personnel involved in the vaccination program, application of logistics and knowledge dissemination. Various studies and publications that have enhanced the acceptable visibility of the vaccine cold chain have been reviewed. It is after all the backbone of the vaccination programmes and though often consigned to the technicians, the vaccine cold chain requires constant training of the clinical staff that administers vaccines.