Cold chain temperature monitoring is an important aspect of facility management at the best of times. However, with the current climate, it now seems more important than ever. With COVID-19 being the biggest global pandemic most of us have seen within our lifetime, medical services are desperate for effective solutions to help them through this challenging period.

At Wessex Power, we have an aim to provide health facilities with cost-effective cold chain monitoring solutions to track COVID-19 test sample temperatures in transport. Our vaccine temperature monitoring solutions are also on hand to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are stored and shipped safely.

Why is cold chain temperature monitoring important?

Monitoring temperatures of COVID-19 test samples as they pass through the cold chain is of paramount importance. This is to ensure that safe temperatures are not breached at any point throughout the transportation process. If temperatures are breached, this can skew the test sample and provide an inconclusive result.

Thus, this wastes huge amounts of time, money and contributes to putting more lives at risk. The sooner medical professionals can effectively examine test samples, the better.

What do medical facilities need to monitor COVID-19 test samples?

When shipping temperature sensitive products, such as medical test samples, equipment is required to ensure temperatures can be monitored. This equipment comes in the form of data loggers, which can provide facilities with temperature readings at time slots throughout the shipping process. This means health facilities can gain full visibility of the test samples as they are transported from one location to another.

What data loggers are recommended for temperature-controlled shipping of COVID-19 samples?

In agreement with CDC guidelines, COVID-19 test samples should be shipped from frozen (<-20°C). Or, they can be shipped chilled (2-8°C) if delivery is guaranteed within 3 days. These temperature limits should be maintained by healthcare facilities to prevent inconclusive or false negative diagnosis of the COVID-19 test samples. By using temperature data loggers, this certifies that these safe temperatures are maintained throughout the cold chain.

There are two data loggers suitable for cold chain temperature monitoring, one suitable for chilled shipments and another for frozen. These data loggers are also suitable for COVID-19 vaccine temperature monitoring:

Cold Chain Complete® COVID-19 8°C Temperature Indicator (Chilled)

• This data logger has trigger temperatures of 0°C and 8°C, so users will be made aware when a product goes below or above these temperatures.
• Single use
• Pull tab activation
• Low cost and easy to use
• Virtual pass/fail indication

WarmMark COVID-19 -18°C Temperature Indicator (Frozen)

• This temperature data logger is suited to frozen test samples as it has trigger temperatures of -18°C. Therefore, users will be notified when temperatures go above this.
• Single use
• Pull tab activation
• Cost-effective and easy set up
• Virtual pass/fail indication

For more information about cold chain monitoring in relation to COVID-19 or to enquire about our vaccine temperature monitoring solutions, contact our friendly team of specialists. We are here to support you through this. Give us a call on +44 (0)1929 459459 or email sales@wpls.co.uk.