Analyzing dispensing plan for emergency medical supplies in the event of bioterrorism

To prepare for the event of bioterrorism, which could spread contagious disease such as anthrax, plague, smallpox, or tularemia to public, local governments in the United States are required have a plan for dispensing medical supplies such as vaccines and antibiotics to general public. The mass prophylaxis would need to cover millions of people in large cities in a short period of time. The distribution and dispensing plan of the medical supplies have to be effective since it would influence health and lives of many people, and there would be no time to fix or adjust plan once the emergency event occurs. In this work, we develop a simulation model to help a major U.S. city in evaluating the effectiveness of alternative dispensing plans and identifying improvement opportunities. This paper describes potential risks and generalized recommendations that can lead to developing effective supply chain and dispensing plans. © 2008 IEEE.