Testing Ability To Vaccinate Large Groups Of People Simultaneously

If a flu pandemic hits Southwest Washington and the rest of the nation, one of the challenges to public health will be to quickly provide antivirals or vaccinations to the public. To prepare for any possible scenario that would require mass vaccinations, public health agencies in Clark, Cowlitz, Wahkiakum, and Skamania counties are conducting Operation TriPOD, an exercise that will test the agencies' abilities to simultaneously vaccinate large groups of people in multiple locations.

The exercise takes place on November 28 and involves setting up seven flu vaccination clinics that will simulate mass point of dispensing sites (PODs). They will be held at the following locations:

A Clark County school, church, and state prison

A Wahkiakum County school

A Cowlitz County fire station and free clinic

A Skamania County school

The exercise is based on a pandemic flu scenario in which enough time has elapsed since the start of the pandemic to allow the development of a vaccine. The exercise presumes the vaccine is being distributed to PODs nationwide through the Strategic National Stockpile and needs quick distribution to the public.

In actuality, staff will be administering free seasonal flu vaccine at the POD sites. "Administering seasonal flu vaccine is a great way to test our mass dispensing capabilities while meeting a real world objective of increasing the rate of seasonal flu shots administered in our communities," said Maria Maribona, Emergency Preparedness and Response Coordinator.

Specifically, Operation TriPOD will test the following capabilities:

The ability of public health staff and Medical Reserve Corps volunteers to set up and activate multiple PODs simultaneously. Three will be set up in Clark and one in Skamania County concurrently. Two PODs will occur in Cowlitz County and one in Wahkiakum County at later time in the day.

The ability of POD staff to follow an Incident Command Structure that is consistent with the National Incident Management System (NIMS).

The effectiveness of various communications methods (radios, cell phones, landline phones, etc.) between the PODs and the Public Health Incident Command Post.

The effectiveness of resource requests from the PODs to the Incident Command Post.

The exercise also tests the ability to serve vulnerable populations in an emergency. One of the PODs is in a church with a predominantly Latino congregation, another at a free medical clinic serving uninsured adults, and another is at a correctional facility. The correctional facility provides an opportunity to test Public Health's efforts to enable organizations to become PODs for their employees.