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Health Dept. - Public Health Preparedness and Response

440 Third Street • Columbus, IN 47201
Phone: (812) 379-1550 • Fax: (812) 379-1040

A public health emergency, such as a mass exposure to certain biological agents, might require the administration of vaccine or antibiotics to our population within a very short period of time.
Mass prophylaxis is the administration of vaccine or drugs to a mass population in order to prevent disease.
Planning for mass prophylaxis must address the worst case scenario, which would require the entire county population to receive vaccine within four days of an exposure event.
Every exposed person in our community would need access to a point of distribution (POD) center. Accommodations must also be made for special populations that cannot access a POD clinic.

A large amount of drugs and supplies must be quickly delivered to a mass prophylaxis site in the event of a public health emergency, because local supplies will be quickly exhausted or unavailable.
The SNS is a federally owned cache of pharmaceuticals and supplies that will supplement local resources in an emergency.
The 12-hour push package and the Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) are components of the SNS.
Any location in the U.S. can receive the 12-hour push package within 12 hours of an order to ship.
The VMI is a vendor managed stockpile of drugs that may be utilized to supplement the push package.
Locally, we must be ready to accept supplies for a mass prophylaxis clinic and distribute supplies to organizations in the community who will provide prophylaxis for their own populations.

Locally, we need the ability to accept the SNS package and conduct a mass prophylaxis clinic for the entire population of Bartholomew County.
Bartholomew County has a population of 72,000, which consists of several special populations, such as non English speakers, homebound, homeless, etc.
Many organizations, professionals, and volunteers will need to work together to ensure that everyone has access to prophylaxis in a public health emergency.
Operational and medical staff will directly conduct the clinic, but support staff will perform functions such as traffic/crowd control, waste management, public works, and provision of food and drink.
District planning addresses concerns such as interoperability among counties and acquisition of resources that may be exhausted or unavailable locally.