A planning committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will conduct a series of virtual public workshops to examine lessons learned and future opportunities for public-private partnerships through novel distribution and dispensing models to facilitate delivery, uptake and utilization of medical countermeasures (MCM) to the public during a public health emergency.
The workshop will build on lessons learned from various models deployed during the COVID-19 response such as retail pharmacies as points of diagnosis and dispensing of MCMs, outpatient infusion centers and home health care providers as collaborators in administering monoclonal antibodies, use of telehealth, and collaboration between telehealth providers and various dispensing options to provide access to MCMs for the public.
The virtual workshop series will feature invited presentations and discussions that explore areas such as:
*Lessons learned from public-private partnerships to deliver MCMs during the COVID-19 response;
*Opportunities to expand and sustain partnerships and capacity between emergencies, as well as opportunities to reduce or eliminate barriers that challenge the operationalization, sustainment, and expansion of partnerships;
*Opportunities for addressing the unique needs of disproportionately affected populations (e.g., children, individuals with behavioral health challenges, racial and ethnic minorities, older adults) through enhanced capacity for MCM distribution and dispensing; and
*Potential paths forward for public-private partnerships in developing a threat- agnostic/MCM-agnostic system for delivering MCMs to the public.
The planning committee will define the specific topics to be addressed, develop the workshop agendas, and select and invite speakers and other participants. After the workshop series, a single proceedings-in-brief will be prepared by designated rapporteurs in accordance with National Academies’ guidelines and be released to the public.