Pat Lennon

Dear Dr. Holla - I won't be able to answer all your detailed questions but I hope the information below is helpful.

WHO PQS provides performance requirements for cold chain equipment that includes freezers - both water pack and vaccine freezers. Vaccine freezers were primarily used for storage of oral polio vaccine in case India has any guidelines on OPV storage and handling that could be helpful to you. One reason PQS differentiates between vaccine and water pack freezers is because there is concern that placing warm water packs next to vaccine would result in localized warming inside the freezer which could potentially reduce shelf life of the vaccine.

The freezer performance specifications can be found here: https://apps.who.int/immunization_standards/vaccine_quality/pqs_catalogue/catdocumentation.aspx?id_cat=17

A list of PQS prequalified freezers and refrigerators is here: https://apps.who.int/immunization_standards/vaccine_quality/pqs_catalogue/categorypage.aspx?id_cat=17

Some of your questions above are covered in the freezer equipment specifications.

For the freezer temperature logger I would reccomend one with a temperature probe that goes inside the freezer and the data logging and display sits outside the freezer to make reading temperature and accessing data easier and to reduce door openings. 

PQS has a list of prequalified temperature monitoring devices at the following link but I'm not aware of freezer specific devices: https://apps.who.int/immunization_standards/vaccine_quality/pqs_catalogue/categorypage.aspx?id_cat=35

Some of your questions about vaccine packing and handling time will be dependent on the thermal stability of the specific vaccine in question so are best answered by the vaccine developer. I'm not aware of a vaccine that is required to stay frozen durning an immunization session. Typically COVID vaccines are allowed to be thawed at 2-8C before use - but confirm with vaccine developer directly.

Thanks,

Pat