HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt has released his agency’s Pandemic Influenza Plan, “a detailed guide for how our nation's health care system can prepare and respond to an influenza pandemic.”

Says Sec. Leavitt, “An influenza pandemic would test our nation's health care system as never before, and this plan anticipates the specific problems we will face and recommends solutions to better protect the American people. A pandemic will cause disease outbreaks in many different communities all at the same time making State and local preparedness so important in saving lives.”

The HHS plan specifies four major components of preparedness and response to pandemic influenza:

Intensifying surveillance and collaborating on containment measures -- both international and domestic;

Stockpiling of antivirals and vaccines and working with industry to expand capacity for production of these medical countermeasures;

Creating a seamless network of Federal, state and local preparedness, including increasing health care surge capacity; and

Developing the public education and communications efforts so critical to keeping the public informed.

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