Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Need recommendations for vaccine fridge

Hello to all the Peds and FPs (or others who stock vaccines in the office). I am looking for a vaccine fridge for my Peds office and would love recommendations from AC users. Any particular brand you've found easy and reliable to use? Anyone uses Accuvax? That seems to be a fridge bundled with a subscription inventory management system.
Thanks in advance.

CDC guidelines recommend a separate refrigerator and freezer.

For the fringe, we use one from Sears which sells a solo refrigerator
(I don't remember the exact model but this appears to be the same:
https://www.sears.com/kenmore-16.7-cu-ft-freezerless-refrigerator-white/p-04670722000P?ef_id=EAIaIQobChMItaSAn_Xh4QIVCNbACh1dYw5cEAQYAiABEgJ_9fD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!8592!3!334827082529!!!g!617382211822!&sid=IDxadbeGx1716226922&utm_campaign=9021746&utm_group=69861337560-334827082529&utm_term=pla-617382211822&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItaSAn_Xh4QIVCNbACh1dYw5cEAQYAiABEgJ_9fD_BwE )

For freezer we used one from Walmart (the price is about the same, but I think it was a different (generic) brand)
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Arctic-King-1-1-cu-ft-Freezer-AUFM011AEW-White/248677244

Both have been reliable for some time.

It depends on a few things. Maine requires one to use IMMPACT, so the inventory is there. It also depends if you lose power a lot. I won't go looking unless you do. Of course, I am sure it is the same with you as far as a plan of keeping the vaccines at the right temperature.

Of course, a generator will work.

But, there is this refrigerator that will keep the temperature the same for like 48 to 72 hours. But, as you would imagine, it is a bit pricey.

Thanks guys. What I am looking for is a "medical grade" fridge and freezer which are CDC approved for vaccine storage. The main difference is tighter temp control, inbuilt fan to circulate air, door alarms etc. I have used 'regular' fridges thus far but temperature excursions are getting me nervous.

I got a quote from Henry Schein for a stackable unit for $2200. I thought it would be a lot pricier! The company is 'Summit'; brand is Accucold. No battery backup but I do have a generator.
Anyone have experience with these?
Thanks.

We use a Kenmore fridge purchased from Sears probably 5 years ago. It has been working great ever since. As for the freezer, we ended up buying a medical grade mini freezer with much tighter temp control as you mentioned. I bought it through one of our medical supply houses locally. I don't remember the brand off the top of my head. Although, I believe the rep mentioned that a freezer like that was one of those things built by one place, that they have 10 different stickers they can slap on it.

Recently, we did have a scare where a circuit breaker tripped and the team luckily noticed the fridge was warmer than it should be. Of course this could have happened over night and been a large financial loss. I decided that moment to purchased temp data loggers that could alert me of any issues. I purchased 2 of these:

https://www.dataloggerinc.com/product/tr-71wb-wifi-bluetooth-temperature-data-logger/

They are slightly larger than an old pager, and can monitor 2 devices at a time. I set them up to report a temp every 30mins and it keeps a log in their cloud service for free. It also has an iPhone app I can watch at and view everything at any moment.

I have one monitoring the vaccine fridge and freezer (2 different probes) and one monitoring a Kenmore freezer provided to us because we are breast milk depot for the Indianapolis Milk Bank.

I was actually really surprised to see the graphs of the temps after setting up. The Kenmore fridge w/ vaccines is pretty solid with very little temp variance (+/- 3 degrees) even set about 42degrees. The medical grade vaccine mini freezer is even more rock solid set at 0 degrees. It varies less than 1 degree.

BUT... the Kenmore breast milk upright freezer varies almost 12 degrees between cycles!! Kind of crazy. It never gets above freezing, but I was really quite surprised to see such a variance. Considering the Fridge doesn't do that.

Anyways, hopefully something was helpful to you in all that.

Nic

Thanks NicB.
I had a presentation today from 'Accuvax': great slick system for storing vaccines in a high tech fridge and managing inventory etc etc....but ITS $800 A MONTH in perpetuity! No thank you!
However, looking into their technology, I started wondering if anyone uses bar code readers for vaccine inventory management?

In Maine, the vaccine management is regulated by the state with very tight precision. They give you the vaccine thermometers, which is downloaded twice a day and entered into a software program. You also must record it on paper.

This one seems like the way to go. Like I said, it is a bit pricey but seems worth it. Depends how often your power goes out.

https://www.temparmour.com

This one is too small, but the physics around it is very cool. Pun intended. Water is most dense at 39 degrees temperature, 4 degrees celcius. It's just very interesting to read about.

www.surechill.com