History Channel

“…..The Consolidated School of New London, Texas, sat in the middle of a large oil and natural gas field. The area was dominated by 10,000 oil derricks, 11 of which stood right on school grounds. The school was newly built in the 1930s for close to $1 million and, from its inception, bought natural gas from Union Gas to supply its energy needs. The school’s natural gas bill averaged about $300 a month. Eventually, officials at Consolidated School were persuaded to save money by tapping into the wet-gas lines operated by Parade Oil Company that ran near the school. Wet gas is a type of waste gas that is less stable and has more impurities than typical natural gas…..”

ASIA Times

Binary: Chemical weapons wherein the toxic agent is not in its active state, but rather, the toxin is in the form of chemical  precursors that are physically separated within the weapon and combine after deployment to the active state.

A dusty agent is the dried powder form of a poison.

A “live” agent is fully mixed and fully activated once loaded into warheads or bombs.

NY Times

“…..Novichok nerve agent, a weapon invented for use against NATO troops, was released in the quiet town of Salisbury, its target a former Russian spy named Sergei V. Skripal. Mr. Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, collapsed onto a bench in a catatonic state on March 4, and remain hospitalized, in critical condition.……”

AP

NY Times

“…..On Sunday afternoon, he and his daughter became severely ill at a mall in the quiet cathedral town of Salisbury, England. They lost consciousness and remain in critical condition.

Some of the emergency workers who went to the scene also became ill, and one police officer has been hospitalized in serious condition….”

CNN

“…..The law enforcement official said the text of the letter contained derogatory, at time unintelligible and ranting language, and was addressed to a commanding officer at the base. …..”

Washington Post

Millennium Post

PHEMCE High-Priority Threats

The PHEMCE will continue to address MCM needs to protect against high-priority threats for which the Secretary of Homeland Security made a determination pose a material threat sufficient to affect national security or PHEMCE leadership determines to have the potential to threaten national health security.

This year, the PHEMCE added three chemical agents (chlorine, phosgene, and vesicants); otherwise, the high-priority threats are unchanged from those listed in the 2016 PHEMCE SIP. The PHEMCE high-priority threats are (in alphabetical order by threat area):

Biological Threats

• Bacillus anthracis (anthrax)* and
• Multi-drug resistant B. anthracis (MDR anthrax)*
• Burkholderia mallei (glanders)* and
• Burkholderia pseudomallei (melioidosis)*
• Clostridium botulinum toxin (botulism)*
• Ebola virus (Ebola hemorrhagic fever)*
• Emerging infectious diseases4
• Francisella tularensis (tularemia)*
• Marburg virus (Marburg hemorrhagic fever)*
• Pandemic influenza
• Rickettsia prowazekii (typhus)*
• Variola virus (smallpox)*
• Yersinia pestis (plague)*
• Chemical Threats
• Acetylcholinesterase inhibitor nerve agents*
• Chlorine5
• Cyanide salts (potassium and sodium cyanide)*
• Hydrogen cyanide*
• Phosgene5
• Vesicants*
• Radiological* and Nuclear* Threats(*) indicates threats identified under the following authorities related to MCMs: (1) emergency use authorities that rely on section 564(b)(1)(D) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act); (2) priority review vouchers PRVs) under section 565A of the FD&C Act;6 and, (3) procurements of security countermeasures under section 319F-2 of the PHS Act.

4 EIDs continue to remain a high-priority threat for the PHEMCE. The PHEMCE developed a risk assessment framework to assess whether specific emerging pathogens should be included explicitly as a high-priority threat. These pathogens may be included if PHEMCE leadership determines they have the potential to affect national health security.

5 The PHEMCE added additional chemical threat agents to the high-priority threat list after considering multiple factors, including recent reported intentional use of agents as weapons, accidental releases, availability of agents in industry, and health impacts of exposure.

6 It is possible that a drug product meeting the requirements of section 565A (material threat MCM priority review vouchers (PRVs)) also may meet the requirements of section 524 of the FD&C Act (which enables sponsors of certain tropical disease applications to receive PRVs). However, under section 565A(e), the same application is not permitted to receive more than one voucher. U.S. Food & Drug Administration (2017). Tropical Disease Priority Review Voucher Program. https://www.fda.gov/aboutfda/centersoffices/officeofmedicalproductsandtobacco/cder/ucm534162.htm and U.S. Food & Drug Administration (2017). 21st Century Cures Act: MCM-Related Cures Provisions. https://www.fda.gov/EmergencyPreparedness/Counterterrorism/MedicalCountermeasures/MCMLegalRegulatoryand PolicyFramework/ucm566498.htm#prv.

The PHEMCE is an interagency coordinating body led by the HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, comprising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and interagency partners at the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, and Agriculture. It coordinates the development, acquisition, stockpiling, and recommendations for use of medical products that we need to effectively respond to a variety of high consequence public health emergencies, whether naturally occurring or intentional.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The 2017-2018 Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise (PHEMCE) Strategy and Implementation Plan (SIP) describes the priorities that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in collaboration with its interagency partners, will implement over the next five years. This strategy updates the 2016 PHEMCE SIP and fulfills the annual requirement established by Section 2811(d) of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act, as amended by the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act (PAHPRA). The annual PHEMCE SIP provides the blueprint the Enterprise will use to enhance national health security through the procurement and effective use of medical countermeasures (MCM). Starting with this iteration of the SIP, the PHEMCE is retitling its SIP to reflect a more forward-focused strategic document by referring to the year the PHEMCE developed it as well as the following year. For example, the PHEMCE developed this SIP in 2017; therefore, it is the 2017-2018 PHEMCE SIP. The PHEMCE examines the SIP goals and objectives annually by taking into consideration the progress achieved and the remaining strategic gaps in MCM preparedness. During the development of the 20172018 PHEMCE SIP, the PHEMCE examined the goals and objectives articulated in the 2016 PHEMCE SIP and determined that no changes were necessary at this time.

The streamlined 2017-2018 PHEMCE SIP provides:

1) a summary of the major recent accomplishments;

2) new activities;

3) updates to the activities from the 2016 PHEMCE SIP; and

4) specific information required annually under PAHPRA reporting mandates.

The 2016 PHEMCE SIP identified priority activities in the near-term (fiscal year (FY) 20172018), mid-term (FY 2019-2020), and long-term (FY 2021 and beyond) timeframes. The PHEMCE maintained these timeframes in the 2017-2018 PHEMCE SIP. The PHEMCE is still pursuing activities detailed in the 2016 PHEMCE SIP unless otherwise noted in this document. All activities described are contingent on available appropriations.