Strategic National Stockpile

CHEMPACK is a program under the Division of the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  The mission of that division is to deliver critical medical material to the site of a public health or medical emergency within 12 hours.  However, for a chemical or nerve agent event, medical material is needed within the first hour.  Realizing the transport would take longer than the necessary time to treat these incidents, it was decided to place these assets within states for a quicker response.

CHEMPACK assets are stored across the State of Oklahoma in secure locations.  These assets may be accessed at a moment’s notice if the local areas or State do not have enough supplies on hand to treat the number of people affected.

Another benefit of this program is the Shelf-Life Extension Program.  CDC retains ownership and constantly monitors temperature and access to the supplies.  This allows for the product to extend past the expiration date saving money that would otherwise be needed to replace the assets.

CHEMPACK is a program under the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the Health and Human Services Division. The mission of the CHEMPACK program is to deliver critical antidotes expeditiously to location(s) impacted by a chemical or biological release, whether intentional or by accident. The antidotes are placed strategically across the State in 23 locations.

CHEMPACK assets may be accessed at a moment’s notice and are constantly monitored by CDC to ensure that proper inventory levels are maintained.  The Oklahoma CHEMPACK Utilization Guide is currently under revision and will be available soon.

The Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI) is a federally funded program aimed at large cities or metropolitan areas. It is designed to ensure plans in these areas can provide medical countermeasures to the entire population within a 48-hour timeframe from the time  it is received from the Federal Government. 

Oklahoma County was designated as a CRI County in 2006. In addition, counties close to Oklahoma City are identified as a Metropolitan Statistical Area or (MSA), which is inclusive of Canadian, Cleveland, Logan, Pottawatomie, and Payne Counties. These counties work collaboratively to ensure that plans in this area can treat the population with life-saving medicines and medical supplies.

For more information on the CRI program, visit CDC's website.

Medical Countermeasure (MCM) plans outline mass dispensing processes across the State of Oklahoma, and has been demonstrated since the beginning of the COVID 19 Global Pandemic.  The Oklahoma State Department of Health (OSDH) has adopted two strategies for dispensing MCM to quickly mitigate the spread of disease throughout the population.  One is a “PUSH” strategy that is defined as pushing the MCM out to agencies that are staffed to dispense medications.  

The other strategy is a “Pull Strategy” where we ask the general public to come to a dispensing site to receive the MCM for themselves and their family members.  

Twelve (12) Health Districts across the State have been tasked with coordinating an MCM response and developing their Push Partner Program for the past 15 years. If you are an agency that would like to assist in planning or become a Push Partner, please contact a regional team member in your local county health department for more details on this vital lifesaving program.