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Preparing for Attack
A biological or chemical attack on a U.S. city would probably overwhelm local medical resources. To quickly equip a city under attack, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have set up strategic stockpiles of specialized medical supplies.
Planning a 'push'
• If local and state emergency officials — in conference with the CDC — agree that an attack has occurred and local medical supplies are likely insufficient, a "push package" is deployed.
• If necessary, the CDC deploys more push packages or specific supplies from private medical or pharmaceutical companies.
• State and local officials coordinate and track the distribution of the package to medical facilities, ensuring a balance of supply and demand.
• The packages — stockpiled drugs, vaccines and medical supplies — are held in eight guarded warehouses nationwide, where they can reach any city in the U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii, within 12 hours. Assembled in over 100 air cargo containers, each push package fills a Boeing 747.
• A plane delivers the package to a commercial or military airport equipped to unload and secure it. Then the package is transferred to ground transport — either Federal Express or United Parcel Service.
SOURCE: Associated Press, Centers for Disease Control