Cheap Warning System for Vaccine Thaw --> RE: Refrigeration of vaccines

[Guest guest]

The thermometer below is pretty cool.

Also, I've mentioned it before and some people mentioned some other tips, but...

Freeze a cup of water in the freezer, then put a paper clip on top.

If you ever find the clip frozen in the water, it means the electricity was out long enough for the freezer temp to get above 32F and the water thawed, then the electricity came back on and the water froze again.

Which definitely means yours frozen vaccines probably aren't much good anymore.

I've also heard of using an analog clock plugged into the same outlet as the fridge -- that way if the fridge electricity is out, you can tell how long by the difference in the current time and the time on the clock.

I would think the disadvantage of the digital clock mentioned below -- is that if the electricity is out for 5-seconds, the digital clock will blink -- which is fine but doesn't really tell you how concerned to be about the vaccines -- 5 seconds and I'm not worried -- 5-hours and I'm a little more concerned.

Some interesting tidbits here...

http://www.dph.state.ct.us/bch/infectiousdise/pdf/BackupPlan.pdf

Connecticut Immunization Program

Recommended Back-up Protocol for Vaccine Recovery

snip/snip

HELPFUL HINTS

A. Fill a cup with water and put it in the freezer containing vaccine; once the water has frozen put a penny or paper clip on top of the frozen water. If you find the object has been frozen over you'll know the temperature rose above freezing at some point in time. This is especially helpful over a holiday weekend or school break.

B. Use the blinking light of a digital clock or microwave as an indicator that power was lost some time during closing hours.

Locke

From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of Sharon McCoy , M.D.Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 12:10 PMTo: Subject: Re: Refrigeration of vaccines

Thanks to the list-serve (, , Marty), I learned about a cool thermometer that has a little bottle of gel with the probe inside, so that really transient temperature variations don't register. You can set it to alarm for high or low and it keeps a memory of temperatures (so if the power goes out over the weekend, you know if there was significant drop in temperature). Below is the order record from mine.Sharon (AQA1281) Digital Time-at-Temperature Thermometer w/Glycerol Bottle ($47.00) X2 = $94.00 --------------Total = $94.00Ground Delivery (UPS or Other) = $9.60Grand Total = $103.60 L. All QA ProductsPh: 704 829-6600Email: sales@...http://www.allqa.comAt 08:38 AM 8/10/2007, you wrote:

I got a countertop lockable temperature-gauged no-freezer cube refrigerator for around $250 from compactappliances.com (mentioned by Jean). Any freezer needs to have a separate door to be reliable, plus by not having a freezer in a compact refrigerator you don't need to defrost it periodically. Keep in mind that the only vaccines hat need to be frozen are Varivax and Zostavax. I only order these on a demand basis, and I store them in my regular-size breakroon refrigerator-freezer. Re: cryotherapy, I would prefer LN2 but don't have the volume to support it. I first used Histofreeze but found that it expired before I used it all. I then got Verruca-Freeze and am much happier with it both in how it's used and its much longer shelf-life. Marty

PS- you can get a dorm sized one, but needs to be a professional grade. The dorm type for college kids is not consistant in cooling. Oh, and you need to do temperature checks too.

T. Ellsworth, MD

9377 E. Bell Road, Suite 175

sdale , Az 85260

From: [ mailto: ] On Behalf Of Ellsworth

Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 7:53 AM

To:

Subject: RE: Refridgeration of vaccines

You need one that can be locked. I splurged and got one with a push button lock so I'm not always hunting for keys. I really like it. Costs around 900$, so is pricey.

As far as cryo- HIstofreeze is good for low cost. But I eventually got the whole nitro set-up. Seems to work better, and in Arizona there are lots of AK's.

T. Ellsworth, MD

9377 E. Bell Road, Suite 175

sdale , Az 85260

From: [ mailto: ] On Behalf Of Marius Laumans

Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 7:38 AM

To:

Subject: Refridgeration of vaccines

Probably an old question: any suggestion as to what kind of fridge to

buy for vaccinations and where to buy it?

Thanks, Marius