This report originally appeared in the February 2010 issue of DOTmed Business News

President Barack Obama has recently signed an executive order regarding preparation for timely provision of medical countermeasures to the American public in the event of a biological attack in the U.S. The countermeasures policy would involve a rapid federal response in coordination with state, local, territorial and tribal governments.

According to the order, the policy would seek to: 1) mitigate illness and prevent death; 2) sustain critical infrastructure; and 3) complement and supplement state, local, territorial, and tribal government medical countermeasure distribution capacity. The U.S. Postal Services will play a major role because it has the capacity for rapid residential delivery of medical countermeasures for self-administration to all U.S. communities. Anthrax is the primary threat consideration in this executive order.
The order states that Secretaries of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security will establish a dispensing model in coordination with the U.S. Postal Service, for U.S. cities to respond to a large-scale biological attack. Those Secretaries along with the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General, in coordination with the U.S. Postal Service will develop plans for supplementing local law enforcement personnel with Federal law enforcement to escort U.S. Postal workers delivering medical countermeasures.

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