[Evaluation of the cold chain for vaccine conservation in primary healthcare centers in the South and Midwest regions of São Paulo city, Brazil, in 2011-2012].

OBJECTIVE to assess the cold chain capacity, health workers' immunobiological product conservation knowledge and practices in Primary Healthcare Centers (PHC) in São Paulo city, Brazil. METHODS this descriptive study included 24 randomly selected PHC in the South and Midwest regions of the city; between December 2011 and July 2012, we interviewed the health workers on their vaccine conservation knowledge/practice and observed the local infrastructure, using a form developed for this project; we assigned points to items of the form and classified each PHC as sufficient, regular or insufficient. RESULTS most of the 24 PHC evaluated were administered by Social Organizations; all of them had vaccine storage chambers; 5 PHC reported using their maximum storage capacity; 9 PHC were classified as having sufficient knowledge/practice and 15 as having regular knowledge/practice. CONCLUSION in these PHC, cold chain utilization was close to its maximum capacity; many health workers did not have basic knowledge about vaccine conservation.