US National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza: six-month status report published
According to Townsend, ninety-two percent of all actions due within six months of release of the implementation plan in May 2006 have been completed. The remaining eight percent of actions are still in progress, and should be completed shortly. Progress includes: * Statewide Pandemic Planning Summits: Secretary Leavitt and other senior officials from the Department of Health and Human Services have led Statewide pandemic planning summits in all States. The US is investing $600 million in State and local preparedness efforts, including the exercising of pandemic plans across communities and at all levels of government. * Community-Wide Mitigation Strategies: attention has been focussed on the role of community-wide mitigation strategies, such as early school closure, cancellation of public gatherings, and other ‘social distancing’ behaviors in reducing illness during a pandemic. Interim guidance on the ways communities can use these interventions most effectively will be released in January. * Vaccine Production: over $1 billion has been invested in the development of new cell-culture technologies for influenza vaccine production, and contracts will soon be announced to adapt existing egg-based vaccine facilities for pandemic vaccine production. * Adjuvants: very promising results on the testing of ‘dose-stretching’ materials, also known as ‘adjuvants,’ have recently been announced by companies involved in this research. If proved to be safe and effective, adjuvants could allow a dramatic reduction in the amount of vaccine necessary to immunize a person against a pandemic virus, thereby allowing us to vaccinate many more people with our vaccine stockpile. * Rapid Diagnostic Tests: the US has invested in the development of rapid diagnostic tests, to allow swift recognition of a pandemic virus in the human population, thereby allowing rapid isolation and treatment of infected individuals. * Bird Surveillance System: a nationwide wild bird surveillance system has been put in place to provide early warning of an outbreak of H5N1 in the bird population. * International Efforts: the US has invested $434 million in international efforts, far more than any other nation, in an effort to build infrastructure in affected regions of the world to rapidly recognize and respond to an outbreak of a pandemic virus. In addition to improving these nations' ability to control outbreaks of H5N1 in their bird populations, these systems may make it possible to slow, stop, or limit the spread of a pandemic virus to the US. Actions due within six months that are still underway include the development of best practices and guidance for selected State and local entities and improvements in mortality reporting by communities. It is anticipated that these actions will be rated ‘complete’ shortly.
•Date: 19th Dec 2006• Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: Pandemic planning |
