Regional H1N1 pandemic planning documents for the UK indicate
that local authorities intend to set up mass vaccination sites
to be overseen by crowd control police.
The documentation indicates that during an influenza
pandemic doctors and nurses will "Liaise with the local
authorities to identify suitable [locations] for use as Mass
Vaccination Centres".
The plans also outline the need to determine how
many people can be vaccinated per day and for how long.
Staff will be provided by local authorities to
"organise queues of people" into appropriate areas
of the sites.
The staff will also be asked to "triage"
patients, effectively ration treatment and prioritize people
based on the severity of their condition.
Essex County Council is to help with a "transport
plan" for the mass centres, and in enlisting the "Voluntary
Sector" to aid with the running of the vaccination centres.
The appointed "Centre Manager" and the
Regional Health Care Manager will also "liaise with the
police in the event of public disorder/crowd control etc",
according to the document.
The specific portion of the pandemic influenza
document entitled Vaccination
Centre Set Up & Layout, originates from
the UK's West Essex NHS Trust area (previously West Essex Primary
Care Trust). Similar plans exist in regional areas throughout
the UK.
Here is the document in full:
The British plans bear a resemblance to
recently leaked French internal documents outlining
plans for H1N1 "injection teams" to carry out mass
inoculations focused around regional vaccination centers.
Further
French documents leaked to the national newspaper
Liberation, have revealed that the government there intends
to use the threat of a swine flu pandemic to overhaul legal
protections for citizens.
Last month we also covered a newly drafted British
Home Office document detailing plans for mass graves
and "streamlined" mass cremations to cope with a "second
wave" of H1N1 flu.
Regional H1N1 pandemic planning documents for the UK indicate
that local authorities intend to set up mass vaccination sites
to be overseen by crowd control police.
