Public Health Emergencies: Unpacking Medical Countermeasures Management for Preparedness and Response

CDC, in collaboration with the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH), published a supplemental issue on September 7 titled Public Health Emergencies: Unpacking Medical Countermeasures Management for Preparedness and Response.

Medical countermeasures (MCMs) are critical to minimizing morbidity and mortality in the event of a large public health emergency that stems from chemical, biological, or radiological events; natural disasters; or widespread infectious disease and contagions. MCMs are a broad spectrum of medical assets that can provide life-saving support to prevent epidemics or in response to a public health emergency.

The supplement provides a glimpse of public health preparedness to ensure medical countermeasures are available for immediate deployment when the public requires protection. Included are 14 articles in the form of briefs, commentaries, a public health practice summary, analytic essay, and a series of content-focused perspectives to highlight past, present, and future considerations for MCM programs, response, and evaluation. The papers presented in the supplement represent a small fraction of the topics spanning the varied and complex components of an MCM response.

Medical countermeasures: Mission, method, and management Avchen RN, LeBlanc TT, Kosmos C. Am J Public Health. 2018 Sep;108(S3):S172.
Planning considerations for state, local, tribal, and territorial partners to receive medical countermeasures from CDC’s Strategic National Stockpile during a public health emergency Bhavsar TR, Esbitt DL, Yu PA, Yu Y, Gorman SE. Am J Public Health. 2018 Sep;108(S3):S183-s187.
Serosurveillance of first-year military personnel for hepatitis A and B Broderick M, Kamili S, Nelson NP, Le T, Faix D, Romero-Steiner S. Am J Public Health. 2018 Sep;108(S3):S204-s206.
An efficient model for designing medical countermeasure just-in-time training during public health emergencies Cathcart LA, Ramirez-Leon G, Orozco YA, Flanagan EA, Young SE, Garcia RA. Am J Public Health. 2018 Sep;108(S3):S212-s214.
Public health emergency response lessons learned by Rapid Deployment Force 3, 2006–2016 Iskander J, McLanahan E, Thomas JD, Henry JB, Byrne D, Williams H. Am J Public Health. 2018 Sep;108(S3):S179-s182.
Timely antiviral administration during an influenza pandemic: Key components Koonin LM, Patel A. Am J Public Health. 2018 Sep;108(S3):S215-s220.
Medical countermeasure actions—a historical perspective LeBlanc TT, Ekperi L, Avchen RN, Kosmos C. Am J Public Health. 2018 Sep;108(S3):S175-s176.
Public health emergencies: Unpacking medical countermeasures management for preparedness and response introduction and contents of the volume LeBlanc TT, Kosmos C, Avchen RN. Am J Public Health. 2018 Sep;108(S3):S173-s174.
Key elements for conducting vaccination exercises for pandemic influenza preparedness Lehnert JD, Moulia DL, Murthy NC, Fiebelkorn AP, Vagi SJ, Dopson SA, Graitcer SB. Am J Public Health. 2018 Sep;108(S3):S194-s195.
Performance of point of dispensing setup drills for distribution of medical countermeasures: United States and Territories, 2012–2016 Pagaoa M, Leblanc TT, Renard P, Brown S, Fanning M, Avchen RN. Am J Public Health. 2018 Sep;108(S3):S221-s223.
Use of medical countermeasures in small-scale emergency responses Perry IA, Noe RS, Stewart A. Am J Public Health. 2018 Sep;108(S3):S196-s201.