Getting the Right Vaccines
Ever since the first prototype vaccines were developed in the late 1700s by Mr. Edward Jenner, vaccines have proven themselves critical for preventing the spread of dangerous diseases and viruses, from measles to Polio, and many lives are saved every year because of widespread vaccination for young children and adults alike. Infants and young children receive many vaccines to protect them against dangerous disease, but as a person ages, he or she may receive a new flu vaccine or Sequirus vaccines to keep the person’s body and immune system updated and safe, and even senior citizens are strongly urged to get an order flu vaccine or a fluad flu shot, especially since the crowded population of a nursing home is an ideal environment for disease to spread. What are some of the statistics gathered for vaccine models, such as thimerosal-free models, and how should medical experts store thimerosal-free vaccines and others?
What Vaccines Do
Vaccines as we know them date back to 1791, when Mr. Edward Jenner developed what he named the “arm to arm” inoculation against smallpox. He did this by drawing material from the skin blister of someone infected with cowpox and injecting it into a patient, training the patient’s body against similar diseases. By the 1940s, mass produced vaccines were being made, and many were geared for the most common illnesses of the time such as whooping couch, tetanus, and more. Today, an even broader range of vaccines are available to protect the populace from disease, and children and adults alike are strongly urged to receive them to keep not only themselves, but their communities safe from influenza, Polio, and more. Vaccines for seniors should not be neglected; the elderly may have very outdated vaccines in their systems, and being in crowded nursing communities means that disease can spread fast. Seniors may ask for a thimerosal-free vaccine to protect themselves from common diseases of their demographic.
How often do vaccines today save lives? The World Health Organization, the WHO, has determined that immunization prevents anywhere from two to three million deaths ever year, and in particular, worldwide measles mortality has dropped 84% thanks to the work of vaccines. Today, children aged 19-35 months receive polio vaccinations at a 91.9% rate, and some may argue that this rate should be even higher to further prevent the odds of this virus being caught and spread in a local population. Even from 2000 to 2014 in the United States, the rate of measles deaths dropped a huge 79%, and the number of measles deaths per year may drop further if vaccines are spread even more thoroughly to all children and adults who need them. Some patients may be particular about the type of vaccines that they receive; those interested may ask for a thimerosal-free injection for safety’s sake, and a thimerosal-free may prove popular, and research is still ongoing to make vaccines more effective and safe than ever.
Storing Vaccines
Vaccines are in fact fragile things, and medical professionals working at a lab or a hospital will take great care to store them so that they will not get spoiled. Vaccines are temperature sensitive, and may be rendered useless if exposed to a high enough temperature before use, so a medical freezer or refrigerator can be purchased by the staff of a research lab or hospital. Finding the exact right model will be based on a number of factors, such as whether the vaccines will need to be frozen or not; based on the type, a vaccine may need mere refrigeration, or it should be contained in a medical freezer. The CDC has released guidelines about the temperature of storage for vaccines of all types, and hospital and research lab crews can follow these guidelines carefully.
Buying a medical fridge or freezer for vaccines also means knowing how many vaccines will be stored at a time inside, as well as the actual space in a lab or hospital for this cooling unit, whether placed directly on the floor or on a counter or shelf (lighter units could go on shelves and counters). With the right budget, any lab or hospital can get a medical-grade freezer or cooling unit for their vaccines of the right size for their storage needs.
