Assessing and planning for emergencies in advance is your best defense in the fight to ensure your vaccines are protected. Part of that involves carefully considering the equipment you’ll use to keep vaccines and other medicine in their safe temperature range.
There are three main options to consider for protecting vaccines in the event of an emergency:
1. Use PCM Vaccine Refrigerators and Freezers
These advanced-technology vaccine refrigerators and freezers maintain their temperature range for several days without power or the assistance of backup power sources. Essentially, this means that your vaccines are protected even if you lose power at a facility for days.
The phase-change material (PCM) technology eliminates temperature excursions or vaccine loss by absorbing and releasing thermal energy during phase transitions. PCM refrigerators can keep temperatures within a 2°C to 8°C range during an outage for up to six days, while PCM freezers can provide stable temperatures within the -50°C to -15°C range.
Check out this blog on PCM refrigeration to learn more about how it works and why it’s an increasingly popular option.
2. Move Vaccines
When a potential threat to your vaccines is imminent, you may decide to move vaccines to a secondary location with a generator or a more secure vaccine storage unit. Remember that as you’re moving vaccines, you must keep the vaccines in temperature range.
A reliable option is to use a purpose-built qualified medical cooler (also called a vaccine carrier) to keep vaccines in their proper temperature range for up to three days without requiring a power source. One advantage of such coolers is there are no electronic parts that can break down or malfunction.
Portable vaccine refrigerators and freezers are another option for transporting vaccines. A standard hard-sided cooler with ice packs can also be used to move vaccines but is not recommended by some jurisdictions (as with all vaccine management, follow any vaccine program requirements applicable to you).
This CDC guide provides an outline for how to properly pack a standard cooler using ice packs. Note: A standard cooler does not stay in temperature range as long as other options and may have increased risk to vaccines due to ice packs if not packed properly.
3. Install Backup Power
This option includes purchasing a battery backup power system or a generator for your location. Backup power options feed power to your regular vaccine refrigerator and freezer when the power goes out
Pros and Cons of Each Equipment Option
1. Use PCM Vaccine Refrigerators and Freezers
Pros:
- Peace of mind during emergencies: Since PCM refrigerators and freezers keep vaccines safely within their critical temperature range for several days during a power outage, medical professionals can focus on other priorities in an emergency.
- No hidden costs: PCM refrigerators and freezers offer exceptional temperature stability during everyday use while providing a reliable layer of protection during power outages. They deliver several days of power-failure protection without requiring additional power sources or other added costs.
- Overall cost savings: When you compare the full costs of vaccine storage and emergency vaccine management, advanced PCM refrigerators and freezers emerge as the best investment.
- Everyday protection: In addition to being a reliable emergency option, PCM vaccine refrigerators and freezers virtually eliminate the common causes of everyday vaccine losses. They protect against temperature spikes, freezing, open doors, and other daily mishaps that can negatively impact vaccines.
Cons:
- Less familiarity: Because it’s a comparatively new option, there is less awareness of the advantages of this type of technology. While PCM technologies have been around for over 20 years, the refrigeration industry has been slow to embrace it.
- Learning curve: Healthcare professionals are busy and often don’t have time to research the latest technologies. As a result, they often purchase a newer model of what they already have without considering all the options.
2. Move Vaccines
Pros:
- Familiarity: Moving vaccines has protected them during emergencies for years. Your vaccine program is likely familiar with this emergency approach.
- Versatility: When considering weight and manageability of transport options, multiple smaller carriers that can be easily moved by one person may be preferable.
Cons:
- Employee safety: Anytime personnel have to travel during storms or emergencies to retrieve vaccines, it adds a layer of risk. That risk extends to both personnel and vaccines and can be compounded if vaccines must be retrieved in the dark because of a power outage.
- Loss of precious time: Driving to pick up, pack, and move vaccines takes time – and time tends to be in short supply during emergencies. There may also be unforeseen barriers to access, such as unlocking buildings or making calls to gain access to vaccines during off-hours or if a lockdown is in effect. Additionally, if the plan is to use traditional coolers with ice packs instead of multi-day vaccine carriers, there will be less time available to implement a plan B if the designated receiving location can no longer receive your vaccines.
- Designated storage site rejections: It is not uncommon that when you arrive at an alternative storage site with vaccines in hand, they can’t store your vaccines after all. The designated sites may not have the space, or a decision to avoid liability issues has been made in the heat of an emergency.
- Backup sites can fail: Generators aren’t perfect. In some cases, vaccines are moved to a designated backup site with a generator only for the backup power at the facility to fail and the vaccines to be lost.
3. Install Backup Power
Pros:
- Familiarity: Vaccine programs are well acquainted with backup power as an emergency strategy for vaccine protection.
- Avoid transportation risks: If you have a reliable generator in place, it will kick on when your power goes out. This means that as long as it’s up and running, and vaccines are in a reliable vaccine refrigerator, you can safely leave vaccines in their storage unit. The same goes for backup battery power, as long as the power isn’t out for longer than the finite number of hours that the backup system provides.
Cons:
- Battery backup is limited: Many medical refrigerators and freezers consume a great deal of energy. Although battery backup power can maintain power during shorter outages and brownouts, most backup batteries won’t provide power for many hours during a long outage Note: A battery system can be sized for longer periods; however, the increased cost and physical size often limits how large a battery system is desirable.
- Backup power can be expensive: When you consider overall costs, including maintenance and fuel (for generators) or replacement batteries (for battery-based systems), backup power options are generally a more expensive emergency option than having power failure protection already inherent in your vaccine refrigerator and freezer.
- Routine maintenance and testing: Backup power options tend to require extra care and maintenance. Generators require regular maintenance. At the same time, batteries usually need to be replaced every few years. Without regular attention and testing, a backup power system may not engage when needed.
Weigh Your Options for Protecting Vaccines
As part of your vaccine emergency plan, regularly evaluate your equipment to determine your needs. You may decide that one or a combination of approaches is most appropriate for your specific location and circumstances.