The COVID-19 Vaccine Storage Guide

 

  

When the world was moving at its usual pace, and people were going about doing what they usually do, COVID-19 intervened and disrupted everything. It changed the definition of our 'normal,' restricting social gatherings and confining us to the walls of our homes.

The first COVID case occurred in the Wuhan region, China, in late December 2019. It quickly spread all over the world, prompted the need for a vaccine. Research began in almost all leading institutions and pharmaceutical facilitiesworld wide, and Pfizer became one of the first to introduce its WHO-certified COVID vaccine after nearly a year in December 2020.

However, the COVID-19 vaccines requireproper storage to deliverresults. Let's have a look at how it’s stored.

Temperature Monitoring and Storage

Proper handling of vaccines maintains their viability. If you expose them to a different temperature or humidity, they might become unusable. The following temperature options are suitable for COVID vaccines.

Option 1

Store the COVID-19 Vaccine in Dual Cooling UltraLow Freezers such as the NEW TWINCORE ECO

to avoid any losses in case of a compressor failure – The vaccine would remain stable for about six months. Temperature monitoring is integrated and downloadable on  the Twincore ECO ULT.

Option 2

Place the vaccine immediately in biomedical refrigerators between the 2°C to 8°C temperature range. Here, the vaccine could last for five days only

Option 3

COVID vaccines come in thermal shippers. We recommend using Messenger 1 or Messenger 10 portable ULT freezers for shipping or dispatching the COVID-19 Vaccines to remote locations or vaccination centers. 

Messengers maintain and monitor temperature within 10°C to -80°C, they have battery backup and can work anywhere from 12V to 230V. Vaccines would remain stable and safe.

Alternately, you could also utilize the thermal shippers as storage containers. Re-ice the thermal shipper after receiving the vaccine with dry ice. Repeat the process after every five days to preserve the vaccine for about thirty days.

Controlled Shipping

Different medical facilities and health centers might need to transfer the vaccines from one place to another. Under such circumstances, COVID vaccines require prior safety guidelines for shipping.

Use thermal shippers for dispatching COVID vaccines. Such shippers contain a temperature monitoring device known as a logger that tracks the vaccine temperature and inform the manufacturer through a GPS enabled feature if the temperature falls out of range.

The thermal shipper temperature is equivalent to 23kgs of dry ice.

Precautions

1. Unpack the shipper in a well-ventilated area, and don’t place dry ice in a closed place, drain, or flush.

2. Always wear insulated gloves and safety glasses or goggles for removing the dry ice pod from the thermal shipper.

3. While taking out the closed-lid vial trays from the shipper, ensure there are no broken vials.

4. Transfer the vaccines to ultra-low temperature freezers immediately after taking them out. They last for about five minutes.

Buy Ultra-Low Temperature Freezers

Are you looking to buy Messenger 1 and Messenger 10 portable ultra-low temperature freezers? Z-SC1 Corp. offers biomedical freezers, refrigerators, and Messenger 1 and Messenger 10 portable ULT freezers fit for the storage of COVID-19 vaccines and other specimens. 

Their biomedical equipment is energy-efficient, portable, and in compliance with the CDC.

For more information about their lab equipment, visit their site. Feel free to contact them at 1.877.381.5500.