Many parents feel that it’s essential to make sure their children receive vaccines. In fact, statistics show that vaccines are able to help prevent over 2.5 million avoidable deaths annually. Unfortunately, storing these items in vaccine storage refrigerators doesn’t always mean they’ll be effective. You’ll want to take a few steps to ensure that your medical grade refrigerators are performing properly. In this post, you’ll learn the dangers caused by storing vaccines at improper temperatures and how to fix these problems.

Dangers of Not Having Vaccines at Proper Temperature

There are many problems associated with not keeping vaccines at proper temperatures. One major problem is the continued costs that medical facilities must pay as vaccines become spoiled. In fact, statistics gathered from the Vaccines for Children program found that nearly $20 million in waste costs is incurred from spoiled vaccines. In many cases, having a quality medical refrigerator will prevent these costs from happening.

Another problem has more to do with patients, many of whom are children. In most situations, children can receive their vaccines and be done with it. However, medical workers sometimes have to call in parents to have children come back to receive the same vaccine again. This places understandable stress on both children and parents.

Ensuring Vaccines Remain in Optimal Condition

While these errors are stressful for everyone involved, there are steps you can implement to reduce these costly mistakes from happening. Reducing these errors not only helps to reduce excess vaccine spending. It also ensures that you won’t have to keep calling families in for another round of vaccines. With that in mind, here are three tips to ensure vaccines remain at proper temperature.

1. Record Temperatures at the Beginning of Each Shift
   
   You’ll always want to start the day by making sure that vaccines are at the proper temperature. In fact, The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that vaccines stored in a medical grade refrigerator remain at 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Continually Monitor Vaccine Temperatures
   
   While it’s important to check vaccine temperatures at the beginning of the day, these numbers must be continually monitored. Therefore, it’s best to have an employee check the temperature of where the vaccines are stored each time a refrigerator is opened. In turn, continually checking these numbers allows you to act quickly should temperatures begin to rise.
3. Implement a Temperature Monitoring System
   
   If you’re looking for another way to keep vaccines safe, consider some type of temperature monitoring system. In turn, you and your employees will know that vaccine freezers and refrigerators are working properly. Many of these systems are easy to implement and can save your facilities a lot of time and money.

To summarize, there are several important ways to ensure vaccines remain at the proper temperature. One of the most important ways to ensure that vaccines remain at correct temperatures is by using a quality medical grade refrigerator. Many medical facilities utilize vaccine refrigerator freezer combos for longer storage periods.