Designing the Response to an Anthrax Attack

Federal, state, and local planners are developing plans for large-scale campaigns to dispense medications in response to bioterrorist attack. The plans must integrate supply chain operations, administrative and clinical processes, and client logistics. The Center for Emergency Response Analytics (CERA) used discrete-event simulation to help one community develop its plan for responding to an anthrax attack. CERA’s simulation models enabled evaluation of candidate points of dispensing (PODs), alternative dispensing processes, staffing plans, and traffic-management strategies. CERA used sensitivity analysis to ensure that the plan was robust—that it would work even if some of the underlying assumptions were wrong. CERA determined how many PODs the community would need, how to staff them, and how to manage client traffic and parking.