Distribution of vaccines tested

By Jennifer C. Yates

The Associated Press

PITTSBURGH - Don’t look for hundreds of people to gather at a large public venue when a mass-vaccination drill is held in the city next month.

Instead, emergency medical personnel will fan out to senior centers across the city in an effort to test how effective it is to decentralize vaccine distribution should a bioterror attack strike. During the Aug. 1 drill, a pneumonia vaccine will be given by the city’s paramedics to elderly residents at various senior centers.

Dan Swayze, director of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Prehospital Care, said most terror drills encourage people to gather at large arenas or stadiums where medications can be given out. Based on suicide bombing targets overseas, Swayze said that might be risky.

“What we’re concerned about based on what we’re seeing in Iraq is those kinds of gatherings could be a [target] for an attack,” Swayze said. “We’re wondering if a more decentralized system … would be a good way to minimize the security risks.”

Dr. Ronald Roth, Pittsburgh’s medical director, said bringing vaccines out to the people could be beneficial to the at-risk communities, which include the elderly and those without transportation.

“It makes more sense to go out to the peripheries, especially if we are trying to stop the spread of some disease,” Roth said.

Though it’s just a drill, officials will be giving real vaccine to about 800 people. The prehospital care center and others hope to gather data that will help them assess how such a distribution would run should an attack occur.

(source / full list of drills)