How to perform the “Shake Test” (JA2010-04)

The “shake test” was designed to detect freeze damage in aluminum-based, adsorbed, freeze sensitive vaccines such as DTP, DT, Td, TT, typhoid, and hepatitis B. These vaccines must never be frozen as this reduces their immunogenicity. When these vaccines freeze, the alum content gets loose, tends to agglomerate, and sediments faster than vaccines that have not suffered freeze damage.