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As the world looks toward the COVID-19 recovery phase, one thing is certain: mass vaccination and inoculation programs are going to be a big part of life in the post-COVID landscape. Pharma vaccine trays exist at the very forefront of this movement. While they may not be the most technically advanced solution out there, the role they play is critical.
Let’s take a look at six ways pharma trays are helping with storage of vaccines.
Suitable for particular temperatures
Temperature is a serious and ongoing concern when it comes to vaccine storage. There are numerous vaccines being used to fight the coronavirus in different locations across the world. It is also important to remember that the process of vaccination does not begin and end with COVID-19. There are many different types of vaccination out there, each with its own temperature requirements.
This means medical institutions and other organizations who may handle vaccines need to be able to do so effectively, even at extreme temperatures. It may not be cost-effective to purchase trays for vaccines that need to be kept cool and separate trays for those that need to be kept frozen. Instead, they need a tray that can handle these different temperatures without suffering excessive wear and tear. Composite material trays are designed to withstand this range of temperatures.
Easy temperature monitoring
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention implements strict guidelines for the temperature monitoring of stored vaccines. In the case that any vaccines have been stored outside of the mandated temperature range, immediate action must be taken — this involves either contacting the local health department in your jurisdiction or reaching out to the vaccine manufacturer directly.
This means you need to be able to quickly and effectively remove batches of the vaccine that have not been stored at the correct temperature. With vial trays, this is simple and straightforward. Providing you have not yet consolidated different batches of the vaccine together in one consignment, you can identify the pharma trays that have not been stored correctly and separate them from other trays in the storage area.
The modular design of the trays is also useful in other aspects of batch management. Even when temperature is properly monitored, organizations still need to be able to exercise a degree of flexibility when it comes to managing vaccine batches. For example, they need to be able break batches down into different consignments ready for distribution. With the right pharma tray, this is no problem.
Simple-to-read labeling and easy assessment
In order to make this management of stored vaccines possible, vaccines need to be properly labeled and checked. While each vial will have its own label, a methodical pharma storage solution also requires labeling on the trays themselves, or else there is the potential for mismanagement of vaccine batches, with possibly harmful results.
With the right pharma tray, labeling is easy to accomplish. Labels will be able to effectively adhere to the surface of the tray, providing an additional level of safety and peace of mind, when deployed alongside individual labels on vaccine vials themselves.
Durable materials for long-term usage
Errors do happen, even though you might try your very best to make sure that they don’t. Trays get dropped, things get dropped on them, they get knocked together, or a range of other mishaps might befall them. Even if the trays do not go through this kind of trauma, wear and tear over time can take its toll on substandard vaccine trays. For organizations who are engaged in the task of large-scale vaccine roll-out, this is a major concern — damaged trays can derail the effectiveness of the operation altogether and can put the vaccines themselves at the risk of harm.
Durable materials such as metals and composites work well to prevent this situation. While wear and tear can never be completely negated, hard-wearing materials significantly extend the lifespan of pharma trays, helping organizations to plan far into the future, with reliable results.
Cost-effective solutions that meet the needs of mass roll-out
Of course, hard-wearing vaccine trays are important, and the fact that organizations do not need to remove pharma trays from circulation after only a short period of usage is a great bonus. However, there are other things to consider. Many companies and non-profit organizations who are handling the roll-out of vaccines are operating on tight budgets. They simply cannot feasibly afford the serious capital outlay of investing in high-end materials.
Fortunately, this is not always the case. Modern trays made from composite materials represent significant cost reductions when compared to trays made from more traditional materials, such as stainless steel. What’s more, they achieve this cost reduction without sacrificing durability or ease of use. In some cases, composite materials may even achieve longer lifespans with smaller upfront investments.
Stackable for effective storage and transportation
As vaccine roll-out grows to an unprecedented scale, the practical side of storage and transportation becomes increasingly difficult. Organizations only have so much space suitable for storing vaccines at the required temperature, while vans and other transport solutions are similarly finite. With this in mind, a good pharma tray needs to help organizations optimize their use of space.
Stackable pharma trays help to achieve this. Personnel can safely stack the trays for storage when they are not in use. When they are in use, the design of the tray also makes stacking easy, allowing organizations to store and transport large numbers of vaccine batches with a relatively low risk of loss or damage.
Pharma trays: a modest solution with a big impact in vaccine roll-out
When we think about the logistical and practical conundrums associated with the roll-out of vaccines — both COVID-19 vaccines and other types of inoculation — we tend to go straight to the bigger picture. However, it is important to bear in mind the critical role that the more humble solutions play during this operation. Pharma trays are one of these solutions, and the impact they are having is massive.