State Plans for Containment of Pandemic Influenza

This review assesses differences and similarities of the states in planning for pandemic influenza. We reviewed the recently posted plans of 49 states for vaccination, early epidemic surveillance and detection, and intraepidemic plans for containment of pandemic influenza. All states generally follow vaccination priorities set by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. They all also depend on National Sentinel Physician Surveillance and other passive surveillance systems to alert them to incipient epidemic influenza, but these systems may not detect local epidemics until they are well established. Because of a lack of epidemiologic data, few states explicitly discuss implementing nonpharmaceutical community interventions: voluntary self-isolation (17 states [35%]), school or other institutional closing (18 [37%]), institutional or household quarantine (15 [31%]), or contact vaccination or chemoprophylaxis (12 [25%]). This review indicates the need for central planning for pandemic influenza and for epidemiologic studies regarding containment strategies in the community.