Aug 19, 2010
More preparedness funding arrives across country
Additional federal funding is being distributed to state and local public health agencies to strengthen preparedness and response capabilities for dealing with terrorism and natural disasters. The Department of Health and Human Services announced today that $698.2 million is going to 62 agencies in 50 states, eight territories, and four metropolitan areas through the Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) cooperative agreement of 2002. Since that year more than $7billion has been provided through the agreement.
CDC press release
CDC Emergency Preparedness and Response Website
Public comment period on BIP now open
The Biennial Implementation Plan (BIP) for the National Health Security Strategy (NHSS) is now open for public comments. NHSS, as stated in the introduction to the BIP, is the "first comprehensive approach to galvanizing the [United States'] many efforts to minimize the health consequences associated with large-scale incidents, including natural disasters, disease outbreaks, hazardous materials spills, nuclear accidents, and biological and other terrorist attacks." The BIP's primary focus is on key outcomes that should be realized over the next 4 years and key activities for the next 2 years to put the country on a path toward realizing NHSS's goals and objectives.
Jul 19 draft of the plan
Salmonella in Oregon linked to milk
Umpqua Dairy in Roseburg, Ore., has recalled thousands of gallons of milk and other dairy products after 23 people became ill with salmonellosis traced to an Umpqua production plant in the town. Two of the cases have required hospitalization. The illnesses have been linked only to milk from the dairy, but several other products have been recalled by Umpqua as a precaution. All of the dairy's products are pasteurized, which could mean the contamination occurred during processing. Umpqua is cooperating fully with the investigation and is disinfecting the plant and reviewing processing procedures.
Aug 10 Register-Guard newspaper article
Adolescent vaccine coverage improves
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today published the results of its 2009 National Immunization Survey—Teen (NIS-Teen) as well as updates to its 2008 survey results. The survey includes young people 13 to 17years of age. Recommended vaccinations for this age-group, in addition to any childhood vaccines missed at an earlier age, include meningococcal conjugate(MenACWY), 1 dose; tetanus, diphtheria, a cellular pertussis (Tdap), 1 dose; and in females, human papillomavirus (HPV), 3 doses. The survey found that vaccination coverage among adolescents increased substantially from 2008 to2009. However, the report states that more effort is needed to continue to increase the number of adolescents vaccinated and to correct variations among states and localities.
Aug 20 MMWR report
