From the benchtop freezer to the lab refrigerator to the scientific freezer or pharmacy grade refrigerator, there are many ways in which vaccines can be stored. In fact, your local pharmacy is likely to have at least one benchtop freezer in place, if not a number of them throughout the store (depending on the size of your pharmacy – in some cases, only one benchtop freezer is likely to be necessary to meet the demands of the customer base). The use of things like the benchtop freezer and vaccine freezer have made vaccines all the more accessible to people all throughout the country as a whole.

Of course, using the benchtop freezer correctly will be quite critical indeed for the proper distribution and safe use of just about every vaccine out there. For instance, a vaccine freezer like the typical benchtop freezer should not ever exceed a temperature of 5 degrees Fahrenheit. However, it is also important that the temperature of whatever benchtop freezer is in use does not drop too low, as this too can cause a whole slew of issues. Ideally, it is recommended to keep your benchtop freezer from falling beneath a temperature of -58 degrees Fahrenheit.

In addition to the temperature regulation of things like the benchtop freezer, the typical lab refrigerator will also need to be kept at a specific temperature. Ideally, a laboratory refrigerator will sit at a temperature of around 40 degrees Fahrenheit or so. This will be monitored on a regular basis in order to prevent any damage from occurring to the vaccines kept inside.

And the vaccines inside are likely to cover any number of diseases and preventable conditions. Consider, for instance, the condition of Hepatitis B, one that very nearly one and a half million people are currently dealing with all throughout the United States. This condition is not deadly in and of itself, but can all too easily lead to diseases such as liver cancer, which most certainly can be. Thanks to routine vaccinations, however, such a disease can be prevented in many people – and already has been, at least here in the United States.

The same can be said for diseases like polio. Polio was once, after all, a sometimes deadly disease that struck fear into the hearts of people all throughout the country, particularly in the hearts of many parents. After all, polio often had life long repercussions, leading to permanent disability for many who contracted it, many whom still live with that disability to this day. For some polio patients, even the ability to breath on one’s own was robbed from them. Nowadays, however, the United States is considered to have fully eradicated polio, now that more than 93% of all toddlers are receiving their vaccinations against this disease. In the years that are to come, it is the hope of many that polio, much like smallpox, will be able to be eradicated on a global scale.

After all, global access to vaccines is something that has grown considerably over the course of recent years, even recent decades. Through global vaccinations, up to two and a half million deaths (if not even more) are actually able to be prevented. However, we still have a ways to go when it comes to overall vaccine accessibility. Recent data has even found that up to 24 million kids under the age of one are not getting the right vaccinations before that pivotal first birthday. As many people are likely already aware of, this is something that increases overall infant mortality rates in some parts of this world by quite a good amount indeed, to say the very least. The continued spread of vaccinations will help to prevent this on an even greater scale.

At the end of the day, getting vaccinated is critical both for yourself as well as for your children. Getting your child or children vaccinated is by and large one of the best ways to protect them from disease in this world – and is therefore one of the most loving and important choices that any parent can make. Vaccinations not only improve the overall quality of life experience by many, but save so many lives as well.