Week 7 Assignment - Monkeypox Crisis Response

Overview Creating a robust disaster response plan is a primary responsibility of leadership in most public health organizations. There are significant considerations and constraints in crafting such a plan. In last week's activity, you described an organization or agency (and its partners) tasked with delivering vaccination services. In this assignment, you identify your priorities as the leader of that organization tasked with an initial response to a Monkeypox outbreak. Preparation Make sure to read and reflect upon the resources on this topic in this week's studies and discussion. Scenario Part 1: Leadership Response to a Monkeypox Outbreak. Imagine you are responsible for emergency preparedness and response for the organization that you identified in the previous activity. Several cases of Monkeypox have recently been reported in your area. You are concerned, very concerned, as this is a rare, virulent, and dangerous virus. In your role, you have been tasked with prioritizing actions that would inform an official initial response to the growing crisis. Part 2 - Prioritizing Vaccine Distribution It has become apparent that the demand for vaccines is outpacing supply by a significant margin. You need to ration the doses. There are important considerations when faced with this scarcity. Many are ethical, but others such as logistics, risk, distribution (and its timing), and adoption, are pragmatic. You need to weigh these considerations (and more) as well as specific characteristics of the disease to make decisions. A tall order indeed . . . and time is short. What decision will you make? You know that you will have to justify your choices. Instructions Part 1: Leadership Response to a Monkeypox Outbreak Consider the mission of your organization and the scenario and do the following in 2-3 pages: List and justify the importance of your initial top 5 priorities to address the outbreak based upon information detailed in the scenario. Consider the mission, population, nature of the disease, access to medicine, et cetera. State any assumptions that you make (if any) that inform your decision. Justify your recommendation of 3 initial steps to effectively address ONE of your priorities (2-3 paragraphs). Cite supporting evidence to support your recommendation. Part 2: Prioritizing Vaccine Distribution Consider the scarcity of vaccines described in Part 2 of the scenario and other relevant factors to create a list that prioritizes who gets access to the vaccine. Do the following: Justify your choice of 5 vital vaccine distribution criteria (Two examples would be population exposure risk or ease of distribution - there are many. Choose your own.) that would be effective for identifying populations for vaccine distribution. Apply your vaccine distribution criteria to justify prioritizing populations or groups (rank them 1-5) to receive the vaccine. Requirements Part 1 submission: 2-3 pages, single-spaced, 12 pt. Arial font. Part 2 submission: There is no length requirement.