Adapting Existing Cooling Containers to Meet Cold Chain Requirements: Insights from Huachiew Chalermprakiet University COVID-19 Vaccination Center

Abstract

Subsequently, the global pandemic of COVID-19 broke out in 2019, and the COVID-19 vaccine had to be distributed urgently with slightly limited stability data and storage conditions. The cold chains for daily use of inactivated and non-replicating viral COVID-19 vaccines at the Huachiew Chalermprakiet University (HCU) Vaccination Center were developed and validated. The vaccine storage container was studied and validated using adapting existing cooling containers. Storage cold boxes made from plastic/foam with different dimensions for use with ice/ gel packs for the storage of COVID-19 vaccines were optimized for suitable conditions. For the results, it was found that plastic boxes for daily storage vaccine No. 1 (4,209 in3) and No. 2 (2,035 in3) with ice packs 5-6 kg and 2.5-3 kg, respectively, could maintain temperature between 2-8 °C for 8 hours. The prepared vaccine in pre-drawn syringes was stored in a foam box as in a temperature-controlled container No.3 (3,520 in3) with 4 kg of ice pack, which could maintain temperature at 4-6 °C for 7 hours. When using the foam boxes for transferring the pre-drawn vaccines to the vaccination station, it was found that temperature-controlled containers No. 4 (541 in3) and No. 5 (877 in3) with three different conditions of using cooling materials were able to store the pre-drawn vaccines with a temperature between 7-13 °C for 7 hours. All of the results in this study showed the appropriate temperature in vaccine storage containers that meet the cold chain requirement for storage of COVID-19 vaccines.