POST 01090E : NEW REFRIGERATOR EVALUATION

POST 01090E : NEW REFRIGERATOR EVALUATION Follow-up on Post 01080E 9 May 2007 ____________________________________ Alejo Bejemino (mailto:[email protected]) from the Philippines, formerly with UNICEF/Pakistan, sends these comments on the new vaccine refrigerator. ____________________________________ I strongly support the new approach of non-adjustable thermostat to protect freeze sensitive vaccines from freezing temperature. Hope that other vaccine refrigerator manufacturers who had their units used in the field will also develop a non-adjustable thermostat to suit the refrigeration system of their units. There are thousands of refrigeration units (of different manufacturers) in the field that can still put the freeze sensitive vaccines at risk. I think there is no need for a heating element to protect vaccines in freezing climates provided that; a) the refrigeration system is designed to attain a storage temperature of +2°C to +8°C b) the refrigeration storage compartment is made of very good insulation material that will prevent the ambient low temperature to affect the inside storage temperature. With the heating element, there is a possibility to untimely defrost the unit and result to a vaccine storage temperature higher than the desirable level. The min-max temperature display may help alert the user when the vaccine storage temperature is out of +2° to +8° Celsius range. It will be more useful if it also indicates the duration for which the vaccines were exposed to a temperature outside the +2° to +8° range. Alejo H. Bejemino Former Cold Chain Officer, UNICEF-Pakistan ______________________________________________________________________________ All members of the TechNet21 e-Forum are invited to send comments on any posting or to use the forum to raise a new discussion or request technical information in relation to immunization services. The comments made in this forum are the sole responsibility of the writers and do not in any way mean that they are endorsed by any of the organizations and agencies to which the authors may belong. ______________________________________________________________________________ Visit the TECHNET21 Website at http://www.technet21.org You will find instructions to subscribe, a direct access to archives, links to reference documents and other features. ______________________________________________________________________________ To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message to : mailto:[email protected] Leave the subject area BLANK In the message body, write unsubscribe TECHNET21E ______________________________________________________________________________ The World Health Organization and UNICEF support TechNet21. The TechNet21 e-Forum is a communication/information tool for generation of ideas on how to improve immunization services. It is moderated by Claude Letarte and is hosted in cooperation with the Centre de coopération internationale en santé et développement, Québec, Canada (http://www.ccisd.org) ______________________________________________________________________________