In response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, public health authorities launched an ambitious vaccination program to protect tens of millions of Americans from the virus. In April and May 2010, the Institute of Medicine Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events hosted a series of 3 regional workshops to examine the 2009 H1N1 vaccination campaign. The workshops brought together stakeholders involved in distributing and dispensing H1N1 vaccine to discuss successes and challenges and to identify strategies to improve future vaccination programs and other medical countermeasure dispensing campaigns. On the basis of the presentations and the discussions that followed, several themes and opportunities for future efforts were identified in the following areas: vaccine supply and demand; state and local implementation of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendations, including prioritization for vaccination; vaccine formulations and priority groups; opportunities for developing partnerships; opportunities to increase seasonal vaccination rates among pregnant women and health care workers and to increase acceptance of live attenuated nasal spray vaccine; standardization and improvement of immunization information management systems; opportunities to simplify, systematize, and automate processes and practices; and research needs and opportunities.

(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2011;5:81-86)

It is only possible to achieve a resilient community and an integrated, comprehensive, and resilient health system that can respond effectively to a public health emergency through active collaboration, coordination, and shared responsibility among a broad group of public and private stakeholders and the community itself. The Institute of Medicine established the Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Catastrophic Events in 2007 to provide a neutral venue for dialogue and collaboration among stakeholders in the preparedness field. In the Forum's first year, the members began to address topics such as medical countermeasures dispensing, crisis standards of care, and medical surge capacity. In the past 9 months, the Forum members have expanded their areas of interest in response to current events and national areas of focus. Current topics include individual, family, and community preparedness and resiliency; medical countermeasures from development through dispensing; and the response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Across all of the initiatives undertaken by the Forum, the common element is that they tackle problems, gaps, and future opportunities that can only be successfully addressed if multiple stakeholders work together.

(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2010;4:174-177)

The 2009 novel H1N1 influenza pandemic had a significant impact on Shenzhen's population with 2063 laboratory-confirmed human H1N1 cases and five deaths being reported. We used parameters from two population-based surveys and the Shenzhen Influenza Surveillance System to estimate the total number of H1N1 influenza infections in Shenzhen in the 2009 pandemic. The attack rate of influenza-like illness (ILI) in family households was 11·2% (95% CI 9·4–13·0), with 80·2% (95% CI 77·8–82·5) seeking medical care. The ILI attack rate in workers was 38·1% (95% CI 34·3–41·7) with 72·5% (95% CI 66·9–78·0) seeking medical care. The average H1N1 positive rate in individuals reporting ILI and testing by polymerase chain reaction was 22·7%. A total of 611 000–768 000 people, or 4·7–5·9% of the Shenzhen population, are estimated to have experienced H1N1 influenza. The estimated total number of cases of H1N1 is likely to be 330 times greater than the number of laboratory-confirmed cases.