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How is the US government protecting
the country?
A federal pandemic plan is in place
The National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza, issued by President Bush on
November 1, 2005, guides our nation's preparedness and response to a flu
pandemic with the intent of:21
- Stopping, slowing, or otherwise limiting the spread of a pandemic to the US
- Limiting the domestic spread of a pandemic and mitigating disease, suffering, and death
- Sustaining infrastructure and mitigating impact on the economy and the functioning of society
The Strategy charges the US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) with
leading the federal pandemic preparedness.21
The HHS Pandemic Influenza Plan is a blueprint for pandemic flu preparation and
response. In particular, the HHS Plan provides guidance to national, state, and
local policy makers and health departments. The goal is for all involved to
achieve a state of readiness and quick response. The HHS Plan is based on the
knowledge that once a pandemic is triggered by the emergence of a novel
influenza A virus subtype, it is a global event and all countries are at risk.
The US will work in concert with the WHO and other international partners on
containment and response activities abroad that also will assist the planning
and monitoring for disease outbreaks in the US.
To review the plan, go to: http://www.hhs.gov/pandemicflu/plan/.
Components of the HHS plan
The HHS Plan includes an overview of the threat of pandemic flu, a description
of the relationship of this document to other federal plans, and an outline of
key roles and responsibilities during a pandemic. In addition, the HHS Plan
specifies needs and opportunities to build robust preparedness for and response
to pandemic flu. The preparations made for a pandemic today will have lasting
benefits for the future.
Antiviral stockpiling is crucial22
Major components of the critical preparedness and ready response actions
include:
- Intensifying surveillance and collaborating on containment measures - both international and domestic
- Stockpiling antivirals and vaccines, and working with industry to expand capacity for production of these medical countermeasures
- Creating a seamless network of federal, state and local preparedness, including increasing healthcare surge capacity
- Developing the public education and communications efforts that will be critical to keeping the public informed
A plan based on known pandemic principles23
Strategies outlined in the HHS Plan are based on an understanding of pandemics
and flu disease, and are guided by several overarching principles:
- Preparedness will require coordination among federal, state, and local government and partners in the private sector
- An informed and responsive public is essential to minimizing the health effects of a pandemic and the resulting consequences to society
- Domestic vaccine and production capacity sufficient to provide vaccine for the entire US population is critical
- Quantities of antiviral drugs sufficient to treat 25% of the US population should be stockpiled.
- Sustained human-to-human transmission anywhere in the world will be the triggering event to initiate a pandemic response by the US
- When possible and appropriate, basic public health measures will be employed to reduce person-to-person viral transmission and to prevent or delay influenza outbreaks
- At the start of a pandemic, vaccine, which will initially be in short supply, will be procured and distributed to state and local health departments for immunization of predetermined priority groups
- At the onset of a pandemic, antiviral drugs from public stockpiles will be distributed to predetermined priority groups
Learn about how much antiviral medicine the government is stockpiling.
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