How to Store Vaccines Correctly

The right temperature

Most vaccines are stored chilled at 2–8°C; certain vaccines require frozen storage around -20°C. The exact requirement is on the product label, and it must be followed precisely — many vaccines are damaged by freezing when they should be chilled, just as they are damaged by warming.

Why the cold chain cannot break

A vaccine that has been outside its range looks identical to one stored perfectly, but may have lost potency. Because the damage is invisible, the only protection is to keep the cold chain unbroken and to monitor it continuously — from receipt, through storage, to delivery.

Essentials of safe vaccine storage

• Correct zone — chilled or frozen as the label requires, never "close enough".
• Continuous monitoring — temperature logging with alarms that escalate on deviation.
• Freeze protection — for chilled vaccines, guarding against accidental freezing.
• Controlled handling — minimising time out of temperature during receipt and dispatch.
• Documentation — a temperature record that proves conditions were maintained.

Storing vaccines in the UAE

Vaccine storage in the UAE should use a DOH & MOH approved, temperature-controlled facility. SFIMS provides validated chilled and frozen zones with continuous monitoring and temperature-controlled UAE delivery, keeping vaccines within range from arrival to destination.

The refrigerator itself

A great deal of vaccine loss comes down to the appliance rather than the procedure.

A domestic refrigerator is not suitable. It is designed to average out at roughly the right temperature, not to hold a narrow band. The area near the cooling element runs colder than the display suggests and can freeze product, while the door shelves swing several degrees every time the door opens. Freezing damages many vaccines irreversibly, and unlike heat exposure it often leaves no visible sign.

What a purpose-built unit provides: forced air circulation so the temperature is even throughout, a stable band rather than an average, an accessible sensor placed where product actually sits, and an alarm.

Loading matters too. Air has to move around the stock, so packing a unit solid defeats its circulation. Leaving gaps, keeping product away from the walls and the cooling element, and never storing anything in the door are simple habits that prevent a large share of losses.

Receiving a vaccine delivery

The moment of arrival is where a broken chain is either caught or inherited. Once you sign, the problem becomes yours.

• Read the logger before unloading, not afterwards. The journey record is the evidence, and it is easiest to act on while the vehicle is still there.
• Check the packing — coolant condition, whether product was in direct contact with frozen packs, whether the shipper was properly sealed.
• Confirm product, batch and expiry against the paperwork.
• Move it into controlled storage immediately. Minutes on a counter in summer are not neutral.
• Do not accept a shipment with an unexplained excursion simply to avoid an argument. Quarantine it or refuse it, and record why.

If you suspect an excursion

The instinctive responses are both wrong: using the stock because it looks fine, or throwing it away immediately.

Do not use it. Isolate the affected stock and label it clearly so nobody administers or despatches it while the question is open.

Do not discard it either. Some excursions fall within a product’s documented tolerance, and destroying stock before it is assessed can turn a recoverable situation into an avoidable loss.

Record the detail: what temperature was reached, for how long, which batches were affected, and what the monitoring shows either side of the event.

Seek a documented assessment from the responsible pharmacist or the product holder, and keep the outcome on file whichever way it goes.

Freezing deserves particular caution. A vaccine that has frozen may look entirely normal, which is precisely why the record rather than the appearance has to decide.