Strategic National Stockpile (SNS)
Who authorized the SNS program?
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What is the SNS?
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The SNS is the nation’s largest supply of life-saving
pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for use in a public
health emergency severe enough to cause state and local
supplies to run out. When state, local, tribal, and
territorial responders request federal assistance to
support their public health response efforts, the SNS
ensures that the right medicines and supplies get to
those who need them most during an emergency.
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The SNS is designed to supplement and resupply state and
local public health agencies in the event of a national
emergency anywhere and at any time within the United
States or its territories.
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Strategically stored in a network of warehouses across
the country, stockpiled products are ready for rapid
deployment to protect the U.S. population against 21st
century health security threats, such as anthrax,
botulism, smallpox, plague, tularemia and viral
hemorrhagic fevers, as well as emerging infectious
diseases, pandemic influenza, natural disasters, and
other chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear
incidents.
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The SNS contains enough supplies to respond to multiple
large-scale emergencies, simultaneously.
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What is in the SNS?
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HHS does not publicly release specific information about
the contents in the SNS.
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The SNS maintains medicines and medical supplies to
address a wide range of threats, including category A
agents. Products include antibiotics, antiviral drugs,
antidotes, antitoxins, vaccines, personal protective
equipment and various other medical supplies.
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When a state or territory requests assistance to support
their response efforts, the SNS stands ready to make
available:
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Inventory: Medicines, vaccines, and
medical supplies to respond to any public health
emergency in the U.S. in 12 hours or less
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CHEMPACK: Pre-positioned containers
strategically placed and maintained in approximately
1,340 U.S. locations to provide nerve-agent
antidotes to over 90% of the U.S. population
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Federal Medical Stations: Caches of
beds, supplies, and medicines to provide care for
50-250 people with health-related needs
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Personnel: Teams of stockpile
experts who provide onsite logistics and operations
support in an emergency
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Who manages the SNS program?
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Effective October 1, 2018, the SNS is managed by the HHS
Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response
(ASPR).
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Federal agencies, primarily ASPR, are responsible for
maintenance and delivery of SNS assets, but all states
and territories have established plans to receive SNS
product and distribute it as quickly as possible to
local jurisdictions, which then dispense to the local
community.
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When would the stockpile be used?
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The plan is to deliver critical medical resources to the
site of a national emergency when local public health
resources would likely be or have already been
overwhelmed by the magnitude of the medical emergency.
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Examples might be emergencies resulting from a major
earthquake, influenza pandemic, smallpox event, and
terrorist events of chemical, biological,
radiological/nuclear, or explosive incidents.
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Pre-event requests for SNS resources might include:
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Actionable intelligence indicating an impending
chemical, biological, radiological/nuclear, or large
explosive attack or overwhelming public health
disaster
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Analysis of data derived from syndromic or
epidemiologic surveillance
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A sentinel event, such as a single case of smallpox
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Since its founding in 1999, the stockpile has been used
to respond to multiple large-scale emergencies including
floods, hurricanes, and influenza pandemics. It has also
supported various small-scale deployments for the
treatment of individuals with life-threatening
infectious diseases like anthrax and botulism as well as
adverse reactions to the smallpox vaccine. Learn more
about
stockpile responses.
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Who can request assets of the SNS?
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Requests for SNS assets and assistance are generally
made by the affected state’s governor or designee.
A federal disaster declaration does not need to be in
place in order to request SNS assets. To request
assistance, health officials should contact the HHS
Secretary’s Operations Center (SOC) at
202-619-7800 or the CDC Emergency Operations Center
(EOC) at 770-488-7100. Both of these operations centers
have staff on duty 24/7 to monitor incoming requests and
emerging situations, and the two centers coordinate with
each other on emergency responses.
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In most incidents, local resources and local mutual aid
and assistance agreements will provide the first line of
emergency response and incident management. If the local
jurisdiction is unable to sustain the response, it may
request assistance from the state, interstate
agreements, or the federal government. The request for
assistance should accurately communicate any identified
capability shortfalls, such as the depleted supplies of
medical countermeasures, and the jurisdiction’s
requirements. It is important to note that during the
request process states should request a capability, not
a specific resource. The federal government will then
determine available resources for delivery to the
affected area in the shortest timeframe.
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Tribes are incorporated in state and local plans but may
also request direct support and assistance from the SNS.
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National agencies (e.g., FEMA, FBI) may request SNS
assets in certain circumstances.
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Whose decision is it to release assets from the SNS?
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HHS, in collaboration with other federal agencies, will
review and evaluate the request for SNS assets, consider
the situation, and determine a prompt course of action
to release those assets that are most appropriate.
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Where are the SNS assets stored?
- This is not public information.
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In order to rapidly respond to state or local needs, SNS
assets are stored in strategically located, secure, and
environmentally controlled warehouses across the United
States ready for deployment. The placement of SNS
warehouses allows for optimum distribution of critical
medicines and medical supplies to be rapidly moved to an
area of need and integrated into a local public health
response.
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The SNS maintains ownership of the inventory and is
responsible for storing, monitoring, and maintaining the
inventory.
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How fast can the SNS assets be deployed?
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In an emergency, the SNS can rapidly deliver medicines
and supplies anywhere in the United States or its
territories in less than 12 hours of a federal decision
to deploy.
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If a community experiences a large-scale public health
incident in which the disease or agent is unknown, the
first line of support from the SNS is to send a
broad-range of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies
(12-hour Push Package). Contents are pre-packed and
configured in transport-ready containers to be
immediately loaded onto either trucks or commercial
cargo aircraft for the most rapid transportation.
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At the same time SNS assets are deployed, the SNS
program may also deploy teams of stockpile experts to
coordinate with state and local officials and provide
onsite technical assistance, logistics, and operations
support in an emergency.
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All states have plans to receive and distribute these
SNS medical countermeasures quickly to local
jurisdictions.
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Are there specific agents available in the SNS for
chemical emergencies?
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Yes, the SNS remains ready to respond to chemical or
nerve agent incidents through its nationwide CHEMPACK
program, which provides, monitors, and maintains
pre-positioned
CHEMPACK
containers of chemical nerve agent antidotes and
anticonvulsants in secure locations around the country.
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Because nerve agent antidotes must be administered very
soon after an exposure, the SNS maintains 1,960 CHEMPACK
containers strategically placed in more than 1,340
locations in the United States. More than 90 percent of
the U.S. population is within 1 hour of a CHEMPACK
location.
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Most CHEMPACK containers are located in hospitals or
fire stations selected by local authorities to support a
rapid hazmat response and can be accessed quickly if
hospitals or first responders need them.
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