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The Public's Take on "Who's First in Line for Pandemic Flu Vaccine?" Roger H. Bernier Speaker biography | Transcript | Panel agenda Summary
Dr. Roger Bernier, Senior Advisor for Scientific Strategy and Innovation at the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease, presented on the Public Engagement Pilot Project on Pandemic Influenza (PEPPPI). Bernier served as PEPPPI's co-chair. PEPPPI was conducted in 2005 in an attempt to develop priorities for a pandemic influenza vaccination program. Program participants included well-informed expert stakeholders and citizens at-large. Citizen input was gathered during regional meetings across the country and was used to inform the deliberations of stakeholder groups, which included individuals representing the health sector, federal and state agencies, industry, consumer advocacy groups, and minority groups. Both the stakeholder and citizen groups considered social choices for prioritizing the use of scarce influenza vaccine. Citizen and stakeholder groups chose as top priorities the need to distribute vaccines in a way to 1) ensure the functioning of society and 2) to reduce individual deaths and hospitalizations due to influenza. Following stakeholder deliberations, a final report was issued and presented to HHS. Although this perspective was not directly incorporated into HHS pandemic plans, the agency did acknowledge in its plan the need to do outreach to engage the public. An independent evaluation of PEPPPI concluded that the process was generally successful and provided "proof of principle" that public engagement is possible and useful to decision makers. Summary by Jennifer Nuzzo, SM | 
