How to develop and implement pandemic preparedness plans? The need for a coherent European policy

How should public health authorities confront the threat of pandemic influenza? Is massive stockpiling the answer? If so, the costs could be overwhelming. Or is vaccination of pre-selected segments of the population the best approach? If so, then what about the tough ethical question that must be addressed: for whom--and by whose decision? Are local and national health authorities operating on the same wavelength? Just how all-encompassing should a national preparedness plan be? Finally, can we count on one national government to shuttle vaccines across Europe's internal borders where they are needed to deal with an outbreak--or will hoarding and panic ensue? These issues and more were the focus of debate during the conference's session on preparedness plans, chaired by Dr. D. Fedson, former professor of medicine at the University of Virginia. As participants observed, Europe faces an alarming diversity of approaches and states of readiness from one country to the next, which cries out for a coherent European policy.