December 20, 2006 -- School Closings Seen Likely in Influenza Pandemic

If there were a major influenza outbreak in the United States, attention would be focused on community-wide mitigation strategies such as school closures, according to a report on pandemic planning released December 18 by Frances Townsend, President Bush’s Assistant for Homeland Security and Terrorism. Townsend said all federal agencies are making their own pandemic preparedness plans, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has held pandemic planning summits in all the states. Townsend said guidance will be issued in January for ways communities can use interventions such as early school closure, cancellation of public gatherings, and other “social distancing” behaviors in reducing illness during a pandemic. In other actions, the federal government is investing in development of new cell-based technologies to replace current egg-based procedures for producing influenza vaccine, and is looking into “adjuvants”—dose-stretching materials that would reduce the amount of vaccine necessary to immunize a person against a pandemic virus, thereby allowing more people to be vaccinated from existing resources. Townsend also said “all entities,” including schools and families, should develop their own pandemic plans. Guidance for planning is available online at www.pandemicflu.gov.