Use of Medical Countermeasures in Small-Scale Emergency Responses

It is well documented that long-standing focus on public health emergency preparedness medical countermeasures (MCMs) distribution and mass dispensing capabilities for mitigation of bioterrorism incidents and a lack of real-world opportunities to test national preparedness for large-scale emergencies has hindered development of a body of evidence-based practices in the United States. To encourage jurisdictions seeking innovative opportunities for continuous improvement, we describe instances when the MCM capabilities were used to address smaller-scale, more-frequent public health emergencies such as disease outbreaks, natural disasters, or routine influenza vaccination. We argue that small-scale events represent a critical opportunity that state, local, tribal, and territorial entities can utilize for greater gains in MCM operational readiness than through exercises or planned reviews. By using and evaluating MCM capabilities during a real response, jurisdictions can advance preparedness science and support the translation of research into practice, thereby increasing their capacity to scale up for larger, rarer, higher-consequence emergencies.