CDC: There's no Fed response plan for multi-country bio threat event , page 1

In a conference call about the Strategic National Stockpile with clinician outreach communication activity (COCA) participants , CDC (as of July 1 2008) says there is no federal plan for a multi-country response to biological threat. The countries in this case are Canada, USA and Mexico.

Question: Yes, in light of the agreement that was drafted between HHS and the Canadian Ministry of Health and the Mexican Secretary of Health for distribution of medical and non-pharmaceutical products if you had a multi-country event has there been a plan developed of how that would work? And if there is how - where do we find it?

Todd Piester: Planning is ongoing and the work you described is part of SPP, the Security and Prosperity Partnership. There’s ongoing discussions and planning with both our neighbors to the north and south. I can’t refer you to a place now though that you can see the plan. We know that at state and local levels there’s a significant amount of cross-border planning and actual preparations underway. But the Federal level plan, as far as we’re aware, is still being formulated.

CDC conference call July 1, 2008

My concern is the chaos that would ensue if an outbreak were detected on the border ( especially with Mexico), Imagine if a border town like Tijuana were ground zero for a small pox out break!! FEMA and the CDC don't have protocols in place to target the problem area. WHat about San Diego? Are they on their own with the Ahnold the Governator. There's no way we can depend on the Mexican equivilent of CDC to respond!!