Suddenly, Refrigerators For Vaccines Very Popular.(Brief Article)

2002 JAN 16 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The same technology that keeps takeout pizza hot is being used to keep vaccines cool, bringing increased demand for the refrigeration units since the East Coast terrorist attacks.

"Everybody is suddenly extremely aware of chemical and biological warfare,'' said Chris Meyer, a director for Energy Storage Technologies, Inc., Centerville, Ohio. "That's what we're responding to now.''

The company produces refrigerators that are tightly insulated and have pumps that keep temperatures to within a few degrees - essential to preserve anthrax vaccine. It also makes a portable cooler with a wax-based liquid that keeps the vaccines cool without freezing them. The same liquid is used to keep pizzas hot through a reverse process.

The 110-pound refrigerators, which are usually sold along with the cooler as one system, have been in production for about two years. The surge in demand since the Sept. 11 attacks has forced the company to increase its production work force from 10 to 18 employees and begin 8-hour overtime shifts on Saturdays. Production is expected to increase from a few units a week to 40.

The company's one-story, brick factory connects to other businesses at a modern industrial park in this city 10 miles south of Dayton. Inside, refrigerators are lined up like giant marshmallows. The whine of saws cutting insulation fills the air.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control has ordered 286 units to store anthrax vaccines at various places around the nation for civil defense, Meyer said. Company President Lloyd Huff said conventional refrigerators do not have the appropriate temperature control for vaccines and are vulnerable to power outages.

"As soon as you get into some sort of threatening situation, there's a strong likelihood you won't have power,'' he said.