There is certainly no doubt that vaccinations are highly important, not only here in the United States but all around the world as well. In fact, this statement is only backed up by the fact that up to two and a half million lives are saved each and every year as a result of vaccinations. Here in the United States, we are lucky enough for vaccines to be widespread and easily accessible and the impact of vaccines can be seen even today.
Perhaps one of the most impactful ways that vaccines have changed the lives of the typical American is through the polio vaccine in particular. Polio was once widespread throughout the country, and could steal lives and cause life long physical disability in many that contracted it. It got so bad that many parents were afraid to let their children out of their homes, for fear that they would contract the disease and become severely and even life threateningly ill. Fortunately, however, more than ninety three percent of all toddlers (between the ages of nineteen and thirty five months) currently have been vaccinated against polio, meaning that the disease has been all but eradicated here in the United States.
Lives have also been saved due to the flu vaccine, a vaccination that must be gotten every single year, setting it apart from other types of vaccinations that are prevalent here in the United States. Unfortunately, far too many people do not get their flu shot on an annual basis, thinking that the flu is not all that more serious than the typical common cold.
Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. The flu can prove dangerous and even deadly when not taken seriously, with as many as fifty six thousand people dying of it (or complications of it) since the year of 2010, a less than ten year span of time. And more than seven hundred thousand people have found themselves hospitalized with flu complications in that same span of time. For the very young and the very old (and those who might otherwise have compromised immune systems), the flu can be particularly deadly – however, the flu has been known to impact and kill even young and healthy adults with no risk factors for having complications of the flu in the slightest.
Many people don’t trust the flu vaccine for the reason of it not being one hundred percent effective as well. This is the truth – the flu vaccine never completely protects you against the flu, though it is better able to in some years as opposed to others. However, the flu vaccine can reduce the severity of the flu even if you do contract it, making it far less likely that you will develop those aforementioned life threatening consequences and very likely even saving your life.
However, for vaccines to be widely accessible as well as effective and safe for use, it is hugely important for them to be stored correctly. In many places, a scientific freezer will be ideal for storing vaccines. The scientific freezer must be kept in good condition and consistently monitored – in fact, it is recommended for the temperature to the be checked and evaluated every time that the scientific freezer in question is opened.
The temperature of your typical scientific freezer or vaccine freezer is likely to vary a bit, but every scientific freezer and the like should fall in the same range of temperatures. This temperature range should dip no lower than negative fifty eight degrees. However, the typical scientific freezer should also never exceed five degrees Fahrenheit.
If you are looking to use something other than the typical scientific freezer, you can also safely store vaccines of various types in a scientific refrigerator. The medical refrigerator or lab refrigerator should also be monitored closely for any temperature fluctuations just as the scientific freezer must. It should be kept at around forty degrees Fahrenheit, as about as precisely as is possible. From scientific freezer to refrigerator, it’s important to keep them in good working order when it comes to vaccines.