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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

News Release

HHS News U.S. Department of Health and Human Services www.hhs.gov/news  
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, September 30, 2011
Contact: HHS Press Office
(202) 690-6343

Statement by Dr. Nicole Lurie, Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response
On the Sept. 30, 2011 IOM report on prepositioning antibiotics for anthrax

September 30, 2011:  The 10th anniversary of the anthrax mailings serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of public health preparedness for bioterrorism as well as other types of emergencies. There are many steps in becoming a nation prepared for the public health impacts of emergencies, and one of those steps is the ability to get medical countermeasures – medication, vaccine, medical equipment and supplies - to the people who need them in an emergency. The faster medical countermeasures reach the right hands, the more lives can be saved.

For anthrax, those countermeasures include antibiotics to protect and treat people who may have been exposed to anthrax before they become ill and vaccine to protect people who could come into contact with anthrax in the area over a long period of time.

The timely and equitable distribution and dispensing of medical countermeasures is a key concern for HHS. We know that the diversity of U.S. populations requires government agencies at all levels – local, tribal, territorial, state, and federal – to prepare a broad spectrum of strategies to dispense medical countermeasures and we recognize that one size does not fit all. To that end, we have been and will continue to work with state, territory, tribal, and local governments in developing strategies for deploying, storing, stockpiling, distributing and dispensing medical countermeasures in emergencies, including an anthrax attack. Part of this strategy could include pre-positioning antibiotics, such as those for anthrax.

In developing these strategies, we wanted an objective look at various options for pre-positioning antibiotics. We asked the Institute of Medicine to gather and review the research literature and data on the various options, and identify considerations in planning to implement any of the ideas, including challenges we might face in implementing these ideas. The ideas include centralizing medical countermeasures in stockpile warehouses managed commercially or by government agencies; forward-deploying medical countermeasures by storing them near locations where they would be dispensed; cached medical countermeasures stored at the locations where they would be dispensed, such as health care facilities or workplaces; and pre-dispensed medical countermeasures that would be stored in each person’s home.

The IOM committee’s report reflects significant study regarding the challenge of getting medical therapeutics and countermeasures to people swiftly and provides us with sound science and thoughtful recommendations.

We will evaluate and consider the IOM’s analysis and recommendations as we move forward working with state, territory, tribal and local government agencies in developing strategies for getting medical countermeasures to the people when they’re needed. It’s a fundamental part of protecting public health and saving lives.

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  • This page last reviewed: August 06, 2020