Decoding the reason why vaccines at VNVC are safe despite frequent power outages

In recent days, many localities across the country have had to implement rotating power cuts due to the nationwide power shortage, greatly affecting production and people's lives. It is forecasted that the hot weather and the risk of power outages will continue in the coming time.

Always have backup power

Taking her 3-month-old son to get vaccinated at VNVC Long Bien ( Hanoi ), Ms. T. Tuyet Mai (32 years old) shared that over the past month, her whole family has been "struggling" with frequent power outages. Before coming to VNVC, she was very worried that the vaccines would not be stored safely and that the vaccination activities would be interrupted due to power outages. However, when she arrived here, her concerns were allayed.

" I planned to take my child there if the center closed due to a power outage, but unexpectedly the center was still operating normally. I felt my worries were unnecessary. The air here is cool, the power supply is continuously provided to the vaccine cabinet, the staff and nurses are enthusiastic and cheerful, I really just want to stay here forever," Ms. Mai expressed.

VNVC ensures continuous vaccination activities amid power shortages in many places

Explaining the questions of Ms. Mai as well as many customers who choose to get vaccinated at VNVC, Ms. Ngo Thi Tuyet Suong, Quality Director of VNVC Vaccination System, said that vaccination is the direct introduction of a biological product into the body, so it is necessary to absolutely ensure the quality of the vaccine to ensure the safety and health of the vaccinated person, as well as the disease prevention effectiveness of the vaccine. When the preservation, transportation and use process is not ensured, the quality of the vaccine will decrease or some components of the vaccine may change, leading to ineffectiveness or no longer being effective in protection, even causing vaccination accidents for the vaccinated person.

For vaccines, the temperature requirement of 2-8 degrees Celsius is a strict requirement throughout the life cycle of the vaccine vial, so the cooling system of cold storage, cold trucks, and specialized cabinets must always be maintained stably, ensuring that the vaccine is always stored at the strictly required temperature.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Hanh, Director of VNVC Vaccination Center System Logistics, said that to ensure the safety of vaccines according to the temperature required by the manufacturer, in addition to the national grid power, all VNVC cold storages are equipped with backup generators using internal combustion engines at the center with large capacity and power supply time of up to 72 hours. This backup power source also supplies specialized vaccine cabinets at each center.

Backup generators at VNVC are ready to replace the national grid to protect the vaccine warehouse even when facing the risk of frequent power outages.

Every week, VNVC conducts a quality inspection of the backup generator system during non-use, running it on no-load and on-load, checking the fuel source, etc. to ensure stable operational readiness for immediate replacement when an incident occurs. The incident process is also carefully recorded with a full-time monitoring system.

" The backup generator at VNVC is set to automatically operate when there is a power outage. In principle, if there is a power outage, the cold storage will still ensure that the vaccine is preserved at a temperature of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius for 60 minutes, while it only takes about 20 seconds for the generator to automatically operate instead. At the same time, the continuous warning system is activated, including SMS messages and emails sent to responsible people such as warehouse keepers, quality managers, maintenance and other related departments to monitor and promptly handle the incident," said Mr. Hanh.

Generators and mobile cold storage ready to hold vaccines

In addition to the backup generator, Mr. Hanh said that VNVC always has a plan to be ready to mobilize a mobile generator within 2 hours of request and regularly conducts "fire prevention and fighting" drills to ensure timely power supply in the worst case scenario where both of the above power sources have problems, although this has never happened.

In addition, VNVC also prepares a plan to mobilize "mobile cold storage" from neighboring centers to both keep vaccines safe and promptly deliver vaccines to the nearest cold storage in especially serious situations to always ensure vaccine quality.

In particular, VNVC has developed a thorough plan for handling cold storage incidents. This plan is periodically trained for all employees such as warehouse staff, maintenance staff, quality assurance staff, even warehouse security guards, vaccine transport drivers, etc.

100% of VNVC vaccination centers have GSP-standard cold storage, on-site cold chain, deep cold storage system in Vietnam, short-term or long-term vaccine preservation process according to international standards, can preserve up to nearly 300 million doses of vaccine at the same time. This is the basis for VNVC to be able to "reserve" large quantities of vaccines, as well as distribute them to vaccination centers during the day, limiting widespread vaccine shortages.

"Thus, at the VNVC Vaccination System, all types of vaccines are preserved almost absolutely safely. We are proud of our cold storage system, cold chain for preserving vaccines, and the system of procedures and equipment to respond to and preserve vaccines in all situations, all for the safety of vaccination for customers," Mr. Hanh affirmed.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/giai-ma-ly-do-vac-xin-tai-vnvc-dam-bao-an-toan-du-thieu-dien-thuong-xuyen-185230619151324797.htm