Medical Fridges and Cold Chain Storage Following the Covid-19 Pandemic

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for medical fridges rose exponentially due to the development and subsequent rollout of the Covid vaccine.

Doctor’s surgeries, pharmacies and vaccine clinics no longer had adequate equipment to handle the influx of vaccine deliveries. Due to this, it was necessary for healthcare organisations to invest in extra cold chain storage facilities.

Though the threat of Covid has lessened and the demand for the vaccine has minimised, there is still a need for medical refrigerators in all healthcare settings.

Here’s why medical fridges are critical in maintaining public health, even after the demand for the Covid vaccine has lessened:

Why are Medical Fridges Important?

Medical fridges have always been a key piece of equipment used medical settings such as pharmacies, laboratories, Doctor’s surgeries and veterinary practices.

Different to a typical household fridge, medical fridges are used to ensure vaccines and other drugs that need to be kept refrigerated always remain within the cold chain.

Medical fridges are fitted with alarms that sound if the temperature within them fluctuates as well as highly accurate, built-in, temperature probes. This means medical fridges can store goods at precise temperatures that commercial fridges simply aren’t capable of. 

The cold chain temperature range (+2^OC to +8^OC) must always be maintained to ensure vaccines and medicines do not become damaged or spoiled. Learn more about the cold chain system in our cold chain guide.

Why Do We Still Need Medical Fridges?

No one could have anticipated the global impacts that Covid-19 would have, especially not how quickly the vaccine would have to be distributed. At the time, GP’s and pharmacies were not well enough equipped to deal with this, and resultantly had to order medical fridges urgently to resolve this issue.

Now, having the benefit of this experience, many healthcare practitioners want to prepare themselves for any medical eventuality, should it occur.

Although the demand for vaccines is no longer as high as it was, medical fridges are also extremely useful for the storage of other medicines and vaccines. Medical refrigerators are specially designed to house biological samples, medicines, biochemical reagents, as well as other vaccines. They can also be used in cosmetic clinics to store products such as Botox and dermal fillers.

Contact Us

Medical refrigerators have always been an essential piece of healthcare equipment and will continue to be so after the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic forced many healthcare professionals to re-evaluate their current storage solutions and establish ways in which they can be better prepared for sudden medical emergencies in the future. Having a sufficient number of medical fridges installed on your premises is a key way in which you can plan for any eventuality in the future.

If you would like to discuss your medical fridge needs with us, please call 0161 772 5666, or email us at info@coolmed.co.uk.