State barely passes health stockpile test

A new report gives Georgia a passing grade for its readiness to distribute stockpiled medicine and vaccines during a pandemic or terrorist attack — but not by much.

The report, released in December by the Trust for America’s Health, found that Georgia has “adequate plans” to dole out emergency medical supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile in a catastrophe.

The stockpile is controlled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If a pandemic, natural disaster or a terrorist attack causes local medical supplies to run out, stockpiled medicine is delivered within 12 hours of the request.

Georgia is one of 10 states that have turned around the failing grade they received from the organization in 2007 for this category. To pass, the states had to score at least a 69 or better. Georgia’s score was 73. Only New Mexico scored lower.

“The state clearly has shown progress over time in commitment to these issues,” said Laura Segal, director of public affairs for the Washington-based nonprofit. “But there are gaps that still remain.”

The assessment comes 10 months after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranked Georgia last in being prepared to distribute medicine and vaccines from the national stockpile.

Health officials have said they believed they fixed the flaw responsible for Georgia’s last-place ranking on the CDC report. They authorized Georgia’s 18 health districts to deliver medicine only. The original plan required them to be prepared to receive stockpiled medicine as well as distribute it at all times during an emergency.

The CDC concluded the state’s health districts didn’t have enough staff to do both.

The Trust for America’s report, “Ready or Not? Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism,” rates states in 10 categories of emergency preparedness. Among them: how much money they provide for public health, how prepared they are for a flu pandemic and whether they provide adequate legal protection to companies and nonpro-fits during an emergency.

Georgia received a passing grade in eight of the 10 categories. The report gave Georgia a failing grade on how successfully the state identifies pathogens that have caused food-related disease outbreaks. The report also faulted the state for not having a round-the-clock system for delivery and pickup of specimens.

The Trust for America’s Health listed 29 states that scored lower than Georgia and 22 that scored better. The states with perfect 10 scores are Louisiana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Virginia and Wisconsin.

The states with the lowest scores are Arizona, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Montana and Nebraska.

Georgia Division of Public Health spokeswoman Belen Moran said officials were surprised the state failed to meet the national standard in its efforts to track down outbreaks caused by tainted food. “We are very aggressive in trying to find the source [of food-related diseases],” Moran said.

— This article is a reprint from The Atlanta Journal-

Constitution.