2009 News

October 17, 2009

Fourth Annual Pandemic Flu Drill Tests Systems, Vaccinates Against This Season’s Flu

The Bucks County Health Department and Emergency Management Agency today held its fourth Pandemic Flu drill. The drill has a dual purpose – immunize citizens from the winter season’s flu, and prepare county officials and citizens for a Pandemic Flu mass-vaccination scenario. 

Over the course of four hours, more than 6,320 vaccines were administered at four walk-in locations: Pennridge South Middle School, Unami Middle School, Log College Middle School, and Rohm & Haas/Dow Chemical in Croydon. In comparison, the 2008 drill vaccinated over 4,500 citizens.

Turn-out was strong, with nearly 3,900 vaccines distributed by noon, halfway through the drill. It concluded at 2 p.m.

“I commend our public health preparedness staff, Emergency Management Agency, volunteers, Major Incident Response Team officers and members of the public for helping the county in its preparedness efforts,” noted Health Department Director David Damsker, MD, MPH who observed the drill for the first time since he began last November.

In addition to the members of Health Department staff at the PODs, personnel from the county’s Emergency Management Agency and Health Department were called to staff the county’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in Ivyland. The EOC serves as a communication and coordination hub during emergencies and exercises.  John Dougherty oversees operations there.  “At this level, we’re able to have visibility on the entire operation encompassing all sites, and troubleshoot. In this case, we used our MIRT team to supply one of the PODs with additional vaccines when they were running low.”

For more tips on preparedness, visit www.BucksCounty.org/ReadyBucks.