Power cuts can jeopardize the integrity of vaccines and other temperature-sensitive medicinal supplies, which must be kept refrigerated to stay effective. The enormous power outages that hit Spain and Portugal on April 28, 2025, highlighted the vulnerability of healthcare systems to similar interruptions. This article explores best practices for maintaining the cold chain and protecting medical storage during power outages.
A Wake-Up Call for Cold Chain Management
The power outage that struck Spain and Portugal, affected millions and disrupted critical infrastructure for up to 10 hours, exposing the fragility of cold chain logistics. Hospitals in Madrid and Catalonia relied on backup generators to sustain essential operations, but routine procedures were halted, underscoring the strain on healthcare systems. On social media sites like as X, Spanish and Portuguese healthcare experts immediately exchanged advice on maintaining temperature-sensitive medications, emphasising the importance of rigorous protocols. This blackout, one of the worst in Europe in almost two decades, underlined the crucial need for robust power infrastructure and preventive steps to safeguard vaccines and medical materials from long-term interruptions, which can impair efficacy and pose serious public health hazards.
What happens to medicines during a power cut, and how can I protect them?
During a power outage, refrigeration systems containing vaccines may lose electricity, causing temperatures to increase or fall outside of recommended storage limits (usually 2°C to 8°C for most vaccinations and refrigerated medicines). Endangering the efficacy and safety of the medications, resulting in deterioration, decreased potency, or the need to destroy inventory, which can be expensive and impact patient treatment.
What to do when a vaccine fridge loses power?
If fridge temperatures begin to rise, you must act quickly to protect the vaccine’s viability.
- Keep the fridge door closed
- Start monitoring the temperatures closely using a digital temperature monitoring device
- Transfer to alternative storage – if power is not restored within four hours, transfer to a backup refrigerator with a stable power source.
- Activate your emergency plan
EasyLog’s data loggers, such as the EL-WIFI-VAC and EL-WIFI-T from Lascar Electronics, provide precise temperature monitoring for vaccine storage. These loggers will send all readings to the EasyLog Cloud as soon as power is restored. For easy data access, however, users can see the current, minimum and maximum temperatures in the device’s LCD screen.
How long can vaccines be outside the fridge for?
The manufacturer will have stated the cold chain conditions for each vaccine, as it depends on the specific vaccine. Most can only be out of a fridge for a few hours with some only allowing for 30 minutes, but this is only in stable temperature environments.
How can I keep my vaccines cold?
To keep vaccines cold after a power outage or refrigerator failure, take immediate measures to maintain the recommended 2°C to 8°C storage range. Keep the fridge door closed to keep cold temperatures for up to 4 hours, and utilise an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or backup generator, like hospitals did during the Spain-Portugal blackout, to continue chilling for 8-10 hours or more. Monitor temperatures with EasyLog data loggers (such as the EL-WiFi-T), which transmit real-time warnings via the EasyLog Cloud whenever deviations occur.
If power is not restored within 4 hours, move vaccines to a powered backup refrigerator or an off-site facility using hard-sided coolers lined with conditioned frozen water bottles, corrugated cardboard, and insulating material such as bubble wrap, while a digital data logger probe like EasyLog’s EL-WIF=I data logger, monitors the temperature. Close coolers to preserve cold chain conditions for up to 8 hours, and activate an emergency plan to connect with local health authorities or access resources, ensuring vaccination effectiveness and avoiding losses.
How should I package my vaccines for transport during emergencies?
The CDC recommends that an emergency plan with steps that should be taken is in place in the event of a power cut. If temperatures within your vaccine fridge begin to rise, you should prepare vaccines for transport. Here’s a summary of what to do:
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- Use hard-sided coolers or Styrofoam™ containers (avoid soft coolers).
- Line the bottom and top of the cooler with conditioned frozen water bottles (bottles that have been slightly thawed until ice spins freely inside).
- Add corrugated cardboard above and below these bottles.
- Use at least 1 inch of insulating material (e.g., bubble wrap or packing foam) above and below the vaccine layers.
- Place the vaccines in the middle with a digital data logger (DDL) probe to monitor temperature.
- Keep the cooler closed to maintain the temperature.
- Once you reach your alternate storage site, transfer the vaccines immediately to a stable refrigerator.
This method can maintain proper vaccine temperature for up to 8 hours, so avoid repeatedly opening the cooler during transport.
How to recover pharmaceuticals after a power cut?
- Determine how long the power was out and whether backup systems maintained refrigerator functionality
- Using temperature monitoring devices, check the recorded temperatures during the power cut
- Clearly label pharmaceuticals that have been exposed to exceeding temperatures
- Consult the vaccine manufacturer guidelines to access remaining vaccines
- Record all details, including outage duration, temperature logs, action taken and outcomes.
If you are using an EL-WIFI EasyLog data logger, all the data recorded on your device will be automatically uploaded to the EasyLog Cloud, where you can review, graph, export and share all your data.
Best practices for protecting medical storage during power outages
- Keep refrigerator and freezer doors shut
- Implement advanced temperature monitoring. (e.g an EasyLog Data Logger)
- Understand the temperature and time tolerances of each of your stored temperature-sensitive items. Ensure staff have access to the manufacturer’s guidelines
- Prepare for safe sample transfer such as coolers and ice packs
- Quarantine exposed vaccine and assess exposure duration with EasyLog data loggers
- Document and report any incidents
- Develop and test contingency plans
By implementing these best practices, healthcare facilities can be better prepared for power outages, minimising losses and ensuring the safety of critical samples.
Protecting medical storage, such as vaccines, pharmaceuticals, and lab samples, during power outages is critical for maintaining their integrity and ensuring patient safety. Drawing from lessons learned during the Spain-Portugal blackout on April 28, 2025, and leveraging tools like EasyLog data loggers, you may be assured that you are prepared.
