Vaccines are a major component of the modern health industry around the world, and many studies and statistics are being kept to track the health of adults and children alike. The numbers repeatedly show that vaccines are critical for protecting lives from deadly contagions ranging from Polio to measles. In fact, the WHO and the Measles and Rubella Initiative have estimated that ever since the year 2000, over 17.1 million lives have been saved thanks to vaccines. Similarly, the yearly deaths due to measles has dropped 79% from 546,800 to 114,900 from the year 2000 to 2014, a significant decrease in fatalities. Today, children and adults alike should be diligent about their shots, as shots can protect a baby or child from diseases that once claimed many young lives in times past. Adults may sometimes need updates to their immunization, and even the elderly may need updated shots.
Vaccines are no doubt powerful and important tools in the battle against disease, but vaccines are fragile. Thus, vaccines, along with tissue samples and bacteria cultures, are typically stored in medical fridge freezers or dedicated vaccine freezers at labs or hospitals. Small benchtop freezers may hold a few vaccines, and massive medical fridge freezers may take up a lot of floor space but also hold many vaccines at once. How can a lab’s staff find the right pharmaceutical freezers for the job? And what about the history of vaccines?
Vaccines Then and Now
The concept of vaccines is an old one, dating back to the late 1700s. Back in the year 1796, a man named Mr. Edward Jenner pioneered what he called the “arm to arm” inoculation method, which was engineered to protect a patient from smallpox. He did this by extracting a tissue sample from a cowpox patient’s skin blister and injecting it into another patient’s arm. In this way, Mr. Jenner helped the second patient build a resistance to cowpox and smallpox with controlled exposure, boosting their immune system further.
This proved to be a success, and the concept of vaccines continued since then. By the 1940s, vaccines were being mass produced for the first time, and they covered an even wider swath of disease. Those vaccines could protect against common diseases of the day, such as smallpox, whooping cough, Diphtheria, and tetanus. By now, in the late 2010s, vaccines can also protect against measles, Polio, and even more. Responsible parents bring their babies and toddlers to the doctor’s office for safe and routine shots to jump-start a youngster’s immune system, and this can help prevent the spread and mutation of disease. Elderly citizens have time-worn immune systems, making them vulnerable to disease unless they get updated shots. This is important to help prevent the spread of disease in a crowded nursing home or retirement community. All of these vaccines are powerful, to be sure, but they need proper storage first.
The Best Medical Fridge Freezers For the Job
A hospital or research lab’s staff should invest in medical fridge freezers models that fit their needs. Vaccines and tissue samples are sensitive to temperature, so naturally, these medical workers will have cooler units on hand to store those vaccines and tissue samples. But it should be noted that regular, commercial freezers and fridges will not be sufficient, since they are only designed to store regular food and drinks inside. These commercial coolers have an unacceptably wide temperature variance inside when their doors are opened, but medical fridge freezers are designed for superior temperature regulation.
A research lab’s staff will look online to find medical wholesale suppliers who have vaccine refrigerators or medical fridge freezers or sale, and the buyers might also browse the secondary market for gently used models, too. These coolers and freezers vary in size and shape, which is important based on the lab’s total space available or the number of vaccine that need storage. A too-large unit may not fit in a small lab, but that lab’s staff may find and buy a smaller, lighter unit that can sit right on top of a counter. Under-the-counter models can also be bought and installed, which can save even more room in a lab with limited space for medical hardware.
