Vaccine Storage concerns raised in UK by NHS watchdog
The Daily Telegraph reported today on an audit carried out in the UK by an NHS watchdog that found 40%, (FORTY PERCENT!) of vaccines were stored at the wrong temperature.
This raises a number of issues
- The potency of the vaccines may be detrimentally effected
- The people receiving the vaccine may not be adequately protected
- The extra cost that must be bourne in terms of having to re-vaccinate people who were not suitable protected
The report refers to a 2 year audit carried out in Nottinghamshire County Primary Care Trust and details that 500 patients had to be recalled because of temperature breaches.
A number of factors can lead to this occurrence:
- Doors being left opening on refrigerators
- Refrigeration equipment being turned off
- Alarms failing to work
- Ineffective or non-existance temperature monitoring
These findings are not uncommon. In two earlier posts I reported on similar findings in Ireland by the Irish Medical Times and the USA by Oregan Live. Clearly Vaccine Storage is worldwide problem.
As experts in the cold storage of vaccines and pharmaceuticals, CRS Mobile Cold Storage are all to aware of the importance of strict temperature control and adequate monitoring systems to ensure these products are stored under optimum conditions. Our pharmaceutical cold stores have been used in both Irish Medical Board and NHS approved sites for the storage of a number of products, such as human blood and the meningitis c vaccine. Our cold stores come with built in redundancy and a number of other featuers to ensure these temperature sensitive products are stored correctly.
Strict temperature control is vital if vaccination programs are going to succeed. All people involved in delivering these vaccines must be suitably educated in the storage of vaccines and must be given suitable equipment to store them in.
Are you looking for vaccine storage solutions? Please visit our website for more information, or contact us here.
Tags: blood products, cold chain, cold store, pharmaceutical, portable cold storage, Portable Cold Stores, redundancy, temperature control, temperature monitoring, vaccine storage
