Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #111437

Lori Uscher, MSc, PhD Cand¹, Daniel Barnett, MD MPH², Ran D. Balicer, MD MPH³, Jason W. Sapsin, JD, MPH¹, Saad Omer, MD, MPH⁴, Jonathan Links, PhD², and David Bishai, MDMPHPhD⁵. (1) Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 624 N. Broadway, Suite 492, Baltimore, MD 21205, 202-577-5083, luscher@jhsph.edu, (2) Center for Public Health Preparedness, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Room WB030, Baltimore, MD 21205, (3) Epidemiology and Health Management, Ben-Gurion University in the Negev, 27 Hagilgal st., Ramat-Gan, 52392, Israel, (4) Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Room 5507, Baltimore, MD 21205, (5) Department of Population and Family Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205

The interruption of the nation's influenza vaccine supply in 2004 generated a cascade of public health responses that were often confusing to the general public and healthcare providers alike. In the process, this unexpected shortage not only highlighted the vulnerability of the nation's influenza vaccine supply, but also underscored the need for a well-defined approach to deal with the medical, legal, and ethical dimensions of supply and demand during an acute public health rationing episode. The complexity of all-hazards public health preparedness requires well-coordinated pre-event planning for dealing with unanticipated resource scarcity. The business world provides insight into methods for achieving this. SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis – a long-established planning tool in the business world – can provide a practical, systematic model for public health decision-makers in dealing with rationing challenges. Here we apply SWOT analysis to an influenza vaccine shortage, to identify lessons learned and target effective solutions for dealing with future public health rationing emergencies.

Learning Objectives:

• Define SWOT analysis and its applications.
• Articulate how SWOT analysis can define the medical, legal, and ethical components of the recent influenza vaccine shortage.
• Describe lessons learned from this SWOT analysis and their application to future public health rationing crises.

Keywords: Public Policy,

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation