As science grows and develops, new tools come into use for emerging fields of study. New telescopes are invented for astronomy, new microscopes are made for microbiology and so on across the spectrum of accepted fields and sciences. One of the largest growing fields is research and medicine which, although not the newest of scientific disciplines, is seeing a real diversification of its various subfields in the past three decades, from genetic research to the study of the spread of mass disease. As the world continues to become increasingly interconnected, the study of medicine, and how to make all different kinds of medicine more efficient, has only become more important. For example, there has been a great deal of research into chronic diseases, such as hepatitis b, which leads to cancer in millions of people. One of the greatest advancements in medicine in the past half century has been the vaccine freezer or medical freezer which allows for easy storage of vaccines and shots that can be transported over large distances in case of emergency. With this invention and the subsequent fast transportation and distribution of vaccines, millions of deaths have prevented that would have otherwise been fatal. But what else can the vaccine freezer, or pharmacy freezer, do to help the spread of practical medicine? The answers might surprise you.
Initial Uses
Of course, the vaccine freezer, or lab freezer, is best known for its titular use, the storage of vaccines in case of a need for study or emergency. Now, for specifics, the vaccine freezer is not always kept at the same temperature or even in the same area. Different medicines require different temperatures and conditions to be kept in optimal conditions. For most of medical history, this wasn’t a known quantity and in fact people weren’t even sure that most diseases had vaccines at all. The history of vaccines themselves are fascinating and go back hundreds of years where crude ones were used to fight small pox and other deadly diseases. The small pox vaccine itself was designed by Edward Jenner and the knowledge of it spread quickly around the world to the people who needed it. This story is interesting in and of itself but, suffice it to say, today we know a good deal more about vaccines and the conditions they need to be kept in for optimal use.
Designs and Plans
There are other uses for the medical fridge freezer, obviously, but, before we get into that, what does one look like and how does it function? A standard vaccine freezer is not much different than your standard food refrigerator but it is a fair bit larger and kept at a colder temperature. Most of them are walk in as well and have different shelves that are labeled for different vaccines. Many scientific facilities have enormous ones that store thousands of vaccines in case a rare sample needs to be extrapolated on the quick for some emergency. There are, however, smaller ones that are built into trucks and even planes for emergency transportation if necessary. In fact, the sheer variety and complexity of these refrigeration has exploded in the past decade as the demand for quick and easy medicine has exploded across the interconnected world.
Other Uses
The Vaccine freezer itself can be seen a type of building block to other scientific refrigeration units that can be used for a wide variety of purposes. Some research groups use them to store bacteria samples for study or dissection, both for pure research sake and the sake of external medicine if required. There are some refrigeration units that even store viruses themselves, larger samples than would be required for a simple set of vaccinations, so that these viruses can be studied. On a less microbiological scale, variations of these freezers can be used to store organs that are being kept or transported for later use in surgeries or medical procedures. These organ transplants save thousands of lives and it is all thanks to these advances in cold storage and cold containment that were originally used for other purposes. Science, in this way, comes together to make life better for everyone.