Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Vaccine Refrigerator

Dear Pediatricians on the Board,

What kind of vaccine fridge do you have? We have an medium size freezer/fridge combo with 1 setting knob for both freezer & fridge. The problem is when the setting for the fridge is good, the freezer is not cold enough, and when we get a good setting for freezer, the fridge is too cold. We then got a separate undercounter freezer for our 5 boxes of Varicella. Since space is limited, we had to put the freezer in a different room.. which as you can imagine is annoying.

I want to get a freezer/fridge combo unit with 2 separate controls that is less than 32" wide, and I was hoping for a lock too. I found some actual vaccine refrigerators. This Sanyo one is about $4800 with shipping. Does anyone have experience one of these biomedical fridge or have a good fridge/freezer with separate temp controls?

Your help is appreciated!

That's a pretty fancy unit. I'm inclined to say that it might be overkill for vaccine-storage.

I realize that there are upcoming changes in vaccine-storage regulations. I heard in a VFC in-service that in a few years, combo freezer-refrig units would no longer be acceptable (though I'm sure they'd make an exception for this device ). I can't quite remember what other regulations are on the horizon. As the time for change comes closer, I'll have to dedicate more time to this issue.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

You probably already have or don't have a choice, but have you checked with the vaccine people in your state.

We aren't allowed to use a combo refrigerator/freeze. It's probably OK, because it can cause problems.

We also are mandated to keep their ridiculous sticker which says, "Refrigerator contains vaccines. Do not unplug."

Fortunately, they put those on as prior to that we were unplugging them all the time.

Also do you have to have a written plan showing them what you do in a power outage. I imaging Texas can get quite a few.

NYC allows the use of "apartment refrigerator/freezer units. (this may be only legacy) Our unit has separate controls for fridge and freezer, both located in fridge box. the unit is NOT frost free. (that is a requirement) I doubt that these are available any longer, as it is very old.
Bert. We also have that sign, it is truly helpful as a reminder!

Right now Texas VFC is ok with refrig/freezer combo. Mario, I hadn't heard that about possibly moving to disallowing it, but that's good to know. I guess we'll just have to stick with our setup to be on the safe side.

We do have to a emergency plan and have a sign on the actual outlet saying do not unplug. Last time we had an audit, they also said we should have a monitoring system that alerts us remotely if the temperature is out of range. I don't know who has that.

I bought a new vaccine fridge for my office 6-8 mo ago: so here's my $0.02:

I found out just in time that the CDC was going to prescribe separate fridge and freezer. I looked at "vaccine fridges" but balked at paying over 4 grand. I bought a full size fridge only (no freezer) from Sears and a small freezer from Amazon-- all for a total less than $900. We keep the freezer stacked on top of the fridge. Temperature control has been perfect with separate thermometers and a Sensaphone alarm. The Sensaphone would work for the remote monitoring system Serene mentions. 500 bucks.

Dr AJ, thanks for the tips. I think I'm going to try stacking the freezer like you did. That's a great idea. I will look into Sensaphone too.

At a minimum you need 2 controls. There are frig/freezer combos that have either dual condenser or dual zone control (evaporators)
All of them are very expensive and NONE have been certified by the CDC.
See this document http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/storage/toolkit/default.htm

I am in the process of replacing a refrigerator (white Westinghouse frig freezer) with:
A new refrigerator and
A separate freezer:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Haier-1.3-Freezer-White/5733501
or
http://www.coolerdirect.com/summit-compact-medical-all-freezer-fs22lplus-9194-prd1.htm

The latter is 3 times as much but includes a traceable thermometer and door lock. (Apparently a traceable thermometer will keep track of the high and low over the previous XX hours) The thermometers are available from amazon from about $20 to well over $100.

Any further recommendations?

Wendell, thanks for the CDC link. This makes me really want to reorganize our vaccines!

Caution about built in thermometers.
VFC in my state requires re-calibration now for the recording thermometers.
I think it would be cheaper to purchase a new thermometer every 2-3 years instead of having the entire freezer/fridge unit serviced/re-calibrated.

Regarding the fridge w/ one control and temp problems between the refrigerator and freezer:
You might go buy a camping refrigerator fan. These are small battery operated fans you turn on and place in the fridge or freezer compartment. The increased air circulation helps make the unit cool more efficiently. Not a permanent fix, but may tide you over

Yup, we have to re-calibrate the thermometers once a year also. We bought a new thermometer instead, which was about the same cost as reclibration but much faster.

Well you could consider talking with your spouse about which new premium fridge/freezer you want for your house, buy it for the practice for vaccines as a business expense, and then decide to get separate cheaper fridge and freezers in a few months for better compliance.

I'm just sayin

Wait a second....

If you discuss with your spouse what premium fridge/freezer is wanted for the house but then it ends up in the office, isn't the spouse going to have something to say?

JamesNT

"Darling, I love it!, and you saved [enter your total tax rate here]%. You're my hero! Can we bring it home next week? Could we buy a car through the office too?"
"Of course. Precious. I sure hope we get to go to the same Federal prison, don't you?"

LOL!

Any updates on refigerator/freezer purchases? Did the Haier freezer meet temperature requirements?

Vissani model HMDR1030WE Was recently bought at homedepot at my office for $500 has 2 different controls and a sep freezer door

We just gave up doing vaccines.
There is no way to justify the cost of maintaining an inventory.
We were lucky to break even on vaccine cost -- let alone capital improvement and equipment and maintenance costs -- before we ditched the program.

Turned it all over to the Health Department. Much less convenient for patients. Too bad.

The Haier freezer worked out fine, it sits on top of the refrigerator. It has been very stable in temps. Our current thermometers were adequate so no change there. they measure highs and lows.

I did consider getting a thermometer that will send a wireless signal to the computer to page me if the the temps are out of range. They run about 75 to 100 but also they record the daily high low monitoring automatically. Haven't hit the lottery yet.