Victoria’s two largest healthcare institutions are using Monika’s best-practice temperature monitoring system to ensure the safe and compliant storage of COVID-19 vaccines.
Royal Melbourne Hospital and Monash Health selected Monika to help them meet the strict storage and record-keeping requirements for the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines, in line with National Safety and Quality Health Service Standard 4.14.b.
Vaccines are highly temperature-sensitive — if stored too warm or too cold, they can become ineffective. They must be kept between 2°C and 8°C, ideally at an average of 5°C with minimal fluctuation. For long-term storage, the Pfizer vaccine also requires an ultra-low temperature of between -90°C and -60°C.
Monika’s enterprise safety and compliance management system, MonikaPrime, provides real-time temperature monitoring of medical fridges and freezers so that pharmacy staff can act quickly before a cold chain breach occurs.
Temperature sensors simulate internal product temperatures and continuously transmit data to Monika’s secure, cloud-based software. Staff receive automatic alerts and can access live equipment data 24/7 from any web-enabled device, allowing prompt action to prevent product spoilage and stock loss.
Monika systems are currently installed at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, Cranbourne and Sandown Mass Vaccination Hubs, and across various hospital sites. In Melbourne alone, this includes monitoring of 29 clinical refrigeration units, one -80°C freezer, and four walk-in storage spaces.
Mark Shepherd, Assistant Deputy Director of Pharmacy at Monash Health, said MonikaPrime was critical to maintaining vaccine supply and viability during the pandemic.
When you have such tight parameters for temperature monitoring, particularly for the Pfizer vaccine, any breach is significant. It’s not just the lost value of the stock — it means people may miss out on getting vaccinated because the supply is no longer usable,” he said.
“We needed a centralised monitoring system that could send alerts after hours, since our pharmacy department isn’t staffed 24/7. Getting that real-time notification means we can act immediately and prevent stock loss
Monika’s live dashboards give Monash Health’s pharmacy team confidence that equipment is operating correctly throughout the day, while retrospective reports allow them to verify how long any stock may have been out of range. “The retrospective reporting gives us enough data to decide whether that stock is still safe to use,” Mark added.
For Paul Toner, Director of Pharmacy at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, having a robust vaccine monitoring system provides assurance to both staff and the public.
It gives confidence that the vaccine is being stored correctly, and that when people come to receive their dose, they’re getting a product that will do exactly what it should — protect them against this virus.
Monika has been providing digital temperature monitoring solutions to the healthcare industry worldwide for more than 30 years. Australian Managing Director, Paul Gamble, said it was rewarding to play a part in the nation’s largest ever public vaccination program.
Monika’s entire ethos is about helping our clients keep people safe. There’s no better example of that than helping healthcare providers protect the nation’s precious vaccine supply and ensure no doses are wasted.
For more information on vaccine storage standards and recent regulatory updates, refer to:
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