The federal government implemented a pandemic blueprint for distribution of Personal Protective Equipment (P.P.E.) from the Strategic National Stockpile, in coordination with public and private efforts. The original name was the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile (NPS) program, but additional materials have been added to the stockpile since the original authorization. The US Congress appropriated funds for the CDC to create a pharmaceutical and vaccine stockpile to handle biological and chemical threats from disease that could affect large numbers of the US civilian population, in Public Law 105–277 dated October 21, 1998. By October, Clinton signed into law a new budget of $51 million for pharmaceutical and vaccine stockpiling to be carried out by the CDC. Shortly after, The Washington Post wrote that Clinton surprised many in Washington at how fast he and his National Security Council had moved to change that. At that time, the government had stockpiles of medications for military personnel, but did not have them for civilians. He was so impressed, that he asked the experts to meet with senior-level aides at the Department of Defense and in the Department of Health and Human Services.
As a result, Clinton held a meeting with scientists and cabinet officials to discuss the threat of bioterrorism. In April 1998, President Bill Clinton read the Richard Preston novel The Cobra Event, a fiction book about a mad scientist spreading a virus throughout New York City. The supplies began to degrade in the 1960s, and were disposed of and the stockpile program closed in 1974. History Cold War Era ĭuring the first decade of the Cold War, the United States accumulated a civil defense medical stockpile at 32 storage facilities. As of 2015, 1,960 CHEMPACKs were forward-deployed in more than 1,340 locations across each state and territory of the United States. CHEMPACK ĬHEMPACKs contain nerve agent antidotes to help in the event of a nerve agent attack or industrial accident. The SNS has adequate vaccines and countermeasures in its stockpile, including 300 million smallpox treatment courses and enough anthrax vaccines to handle a three-city incident. Marshals Service provides armed security from these federal sites to local destinations. The material deploys by unmarked trucks and airplanes within 12 hours of the receipt of a request by the CDC. Its contents include broad-spectrum oral and intravenous antibiotics, emergency medicines, IV fluids and kits, airway equipment, bandages, vaccines, antitoxins, and ventilators. 12-hour push pack Įach push pack weighs about 50 short tons (100,000 lb 45 t 45,000 kg). The SNS holds a variety of items that would be helpful to the general population in the event of a widespread disease outbreak. Armed personnel guard the warehouse contents and, according to NPR in 2020, during the COVID-19 global pandemic, "rows of ventilators, which can support people who are having trouble breathing, are kept charged up and ready to roll at a moment's notice." Composition Inside the warehouses, supplies are stacked on shelves that can measure five stories high.
The locations appear to look like ordinary commercial warehouses. The actual supply of drugs and supplies that make up the SNS are located in twelve secret locations strategically placed throughout the US. would experience a shortage of ventilators and other medical supplies if it faced a large-scale infectious disease outbreak. In at least 10 government reports from 2003 to 2015, federal officials predicted the U.S. The supplies, medicines, and devices for life-saving care contained in the stockpile can be used as a short-term stopgap buffer when the immediate supply of adequate amounts of these materials may not be immediately available." Many states have products stockpiled, as well. "The Strategic National Stockpile's role is to supplement state and local supplies during public health emergencies. The Strategic National Stockpile ( SNS), originally called the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile ( NPS), is the United States' national repository of antibiotics, vaccines, chemical antidotes, antitoxins, and other critical medical supplies. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response