Vaccines have saved countless lives throughout the world and are an essential part of overall healthcare. However, vaccines are only effective when properly stored and administered.
Regardless of whether the facility storing the vaccines is for research, storage, distribution or administering, the facility must be aware of how the vaccines are stored, at one temperature they’re stored, and how long they are being stored.
There are many factors you need to take into consideration when buying a pharmaceutical grade refrigerator for your facility. There are different types of medical refrigerators, but when storing vaccines, it is important to get a single unit, opposed to a refrigerator and freezer unit. This is because the temperature is easier to control and maintain when the refrigerator is not attach to a freezer.
The size of the pharmaceutical grade refrigerator you need will depend primarily on the space you have available and the amount of vaccines you need to keep stored. There are small compact units that can be kept under a counter top. These are idea when space is limited. There are also large stand-up units you can buy if you need to store larger amounts and have the space.
Regardless of the size of the scientific refrigerator you purchase, you need to ensure there are at least three inches of space on all sides of the unit to ensure proper ventilation at all times.
Other factors you may need to consider include auto-defrost, glass doors, locks, self-closing doors, and hospital grade cords. Manually defrosting a unit can be timely and cause you to need an alternative place to store your vaccines. An auto-defrost function will save you time and frustration.
See through glass is ideal if you are storing multiple different vaccines because you can easily check inventory without having to open and close the door multiple times, which can cause instability in the temperature of the unit.
Vaccines are highly valuable in many areas of the world, which makes them a theft risk. Locking refrigerators will provide an added layer of security you may need. It will also ensure that the number of staff who are able to access the vaccines is limited.
Self-closing doors and hospital grade cords provide security from accidents. A door accidentally getting left open on a vaccine refrigerator can cause everything in the refrigerator to be ruined. Likewise, a cord being knocked out or frayed can cause irreversible damage to the vaccines being stored.
A pharmaceutical grade refrigerator is not cheap and should not be purchased second-hand. They are an investment to protect something valuable and should be looked at that way. Not all companies can provide a medical grade refrigerator; it is important to purchase only from companies with a good reputation and experience in this particular field of manufacturing.