In application places, such as outpatient clinics, health units - pharmacies, hospitals, private clinics, etc., immunizers should be kept at a temperature between 2°C to 8°C, with the ideal temperature being 5°C, as it offers greater security against oscillations.
Studies have already found that the most common failure in the cold chain is the exposure of vaccines to temperatures below 2 ° C, mainly to freezing.
The commercial director of Biotecno, Roberto Olivares, the company that manufactured the refrigerator that stored the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine applied in Brazil, points out that Brazil, through the PNI, has the best vaccination program in the world, with rules and established standards.
The cold chain process must be maintained from manufacture to application. The laboratory, storage centers, vaccine rooms and all other participants in this network must carry out storage and transport correctly, so that vaccines are never exposed to temperatures outside the established range. “Vaccines exposed to temperature variations can be inactivated, with some changing their appearance and altering their physical and chemical characteristics. For this reason, it is very important that health professionals who work with immunizations know the characteristics of the vaccines they administer and are familiar with the rules for their conservation and storage, ”said Olivares.
Changing the storage temperature can compromise the immunogenic potency of the vaccine, as well as the characteristics verified and certified by the producing laboratory under certain ideal storage conditions: temperature, expiration date, humidity, light and others. According to Olivares, vaccines are conserved in the different sectors of the cold chain at specific temperatures that consider the antigens and adjuvants in their composition.