U.S. Considers Postal Delivery of Emergency Drugs

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said the United States is considering using postal workers to deliver drugs in the event of a bioterrorism attack, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 1).

“We're finding that the distribution systems are not adequate to put medicines in the hands of people fast enough, so we're beginning to look at alternative ways to speed that up,” Leavitt told AP.

“We're looking at having more points of distribution, for example. We're experimenting with having the Postal Service be able to deliver them, because they walk those routes every day,” he added.

Leavitt said fire stations are also being considered as drug distribution centers (Kevin Freking, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Aug. 2).

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