Modernising Vaccine Safety
Setting a new benchmark for fridge regulations in the 21st century
Introducing VaxShield
Setting a Revolutionary Benchmark in Vaccine Storage and Monitoring
While Strive For 5 addressed many of the key issues of storing vaccines 20 years ago, it has failed to stay up to date with modern technology.
Rather than building upon an outdated standard, VaxShield is based on modern and affordable technology and practices. It allows staff to focus on what is most important – the patients – while ensuring that vaccines are safely stored.
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Why is Strive For 5 no longer relevant
for vaccine temperature safety?
When Strive for 5 was written, there were very few dedicated vaccine fridges. Vaccines were often kept in those dorm-room or bar style fridges with the unpredictable freezer sections at the top. These cheap fridges were notoriously bad at maintaining consistent temperatures, and Strive For 5 very rightly placed the bulk of the responsibility on staff.
But because busy staff can’t be constantly monitoring fridges, compromises had to be made between vaccine safety and staff efficiency, which meant Strive For 5 only required twice-a-day temperature monitoring. This was usually done with mercury thermometers or analog sensors that required regular recalibration.
But all that is in the past.
Previous Strive for 5 System
Updated VaxShield System
Now that almost all vaccines are kept in dedicated vaccine fridges and monitored with digital temperature sensors, there can be (and should be) a shift in trust.
Your specialised vaccine fridge is incredibly reliable. Not only does it have advanced features for maintaining consistent temperatures, it is most likely to be the first device that will detect a temperature breach and notify you. If the fridge does fails, the second line of defence is your cloud-based temperature logger, which is logging the temperature every few minutes and will alert you immediately about a breach.
With this fridge-logger duo ensuring round-the-clock vaccine safety and monitoring, busy staff are relieved of excessive compliance duties. This empowers them to focus on providing care, eliminating the need for redundant temperature checks.
Strive For 5 lags behind technological advancements. Despite multiple updates, it overlooks the significant time-saving and safety benefits of modern appliances. Their own guidelines openly acknowledge their focus on basic data loggers.
VaxShield sets sensible priorities for vaccine storage
Priority 1
Keep vaccines safe
Priority 2
Immediate breach infomation
Priority 3
Reliable audit trail
VaxShield refocuses key responsibilities
Strive For Five placed most of the responsibility on the staff to ensure that vaccines were kept safe, and saw the fridge as the problem. Given its origin 20 years earlier, this was understandable. Since then, however, technology has improved and become more affordable.
Consequently, VaxShield acknowledges that the vaccine fridge is the first entity that is likely to identify a breach and immediately notify the local staff. The cloud-based temperature logger is the second line of defence and is able to notify staff remotely. Finally, the occasional manual check by staff will provide a delayed check that is not ideal, but still essential.