A number of advances in the medical field, such as germ theory and vaccines and sterilization of medical equipment, have made modern medicine what it is. Now, the battle against disease is made possible with specialized vaccines and prescription drugs, and these vaccines are known to save millions of lives around the world every year. Studies show that the rate of measles deaths, for example, dropped 79% from the year 2000 to 2014. Other diseases, such as smallpox and polio, have been declared extinct completely. But these vaccines, while powerful, will need proper storage solutions, such as medical refrigerators and freezers. These medical refrigerators and freezers may be pharmaceutical grade refrigerators and vaccine refrigerator freezers, which can carefully regulate their internal temperature. What is there to know about proper vaccine storage in these medical refrigerators and freezers, and what about the history of vaccines as we know them?
A History of Vaccines
The concept of vaccines is over two centuries old, and vaccines as we know them were pioneered back in the year 1796. In that year, a British scientist named Edward Jenner developed what he called the “arm to arm” inoculation method to fight back against smallpox. He did this by extracting a tissue sample from the skin blister of a cowpox patient, then transferred that sample to the skin of a second patient. With this method, the second patient’s immune system could be trained to recognize and fight back against cowpox and smallpox, and thus vaccines proved to be a success. More and more vaccines were developed and used in the following decades, and by the 1940s, vaccines had entered mass production for the first time. Many of them were geared to fight off common viruses of the time, such as smallpox, diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus. Now, in the 21st century, vaccines can also resist polio and measles, among other diseases.
What is there to know about vaccines today? Children and adults alike can should receive them, and children and babies in particular need routine shots to bolster their young and developing immune systems against disease. In centuries past, many youngsters died from disease, but modern vaccines have put a stop to that, and responsible parents will bring their children to doctor’s clinics for safe and routine shots. Adults can get shots to update their immune systems too, and the elderly also need vaccinations. A senior citizen’s age-worn immune system will get a boost from vaccines, and all this can help prevent the spread of disease in crowded retirement homes. A typical American patient’s medical records will include, among other data, their vaccination history.
Proper Storage Solutions
These powerful vaccines need to be stored properly at hospitals and research labs, and they are sensitive to temperature. So, the staff at such medical sites will look for wholesale medical refrigerators and freezers for sale, and these units can be found on the secondary market as well as the online catalogs of medical suppliers. Ordinary, commercial freezers and fridges are not sufficient for this job, since they are designed for food instead of medical items. Those coolers have a wide variance in temperature when they are opened, and that could ruin vaccines inside. By contrast, medical grade cooler units will maintain their internal temperature and conditions more carefully.
Some of these units are fridges, and as per the CDC’s guidelines, they will store vaccines at a temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit, or 5 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, other vaccines need to be frozen when they are in storage, and they can be placed in medical freezers that have an internal temperature of -58 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit, or -50 to -15 degrees Celsius. When buyers are looking for these medical freezers, they should take note of not only the unit’s internal temperature, but also its storage capacity and size. A large, busy hospital’s staff can clear up enough floor space for a large medical freezer for storing many vaccines. By contrast, the staff at a small research lab can find a benchtop freezer or even an “under the counter” fridge model that can save space. And when buying gently used medical freezers, customers should look it over first to check its condition.