cination systems and activities, strengthen relationships, obtain feedback on what works and what does not, and continue to refine practices from year to year. They suggested that providing additional attention and resources to the seasonal vaccination campaign would also be highly beneficial to future emergency vaccination campaigns.

To improve their ability to respond effectively to the next public health emergency, workshop participants spoke of the need to evaluate what worked and what did not, then systematize what worked and change what did not. They spoke of the need to capitalize on the momentum that had started and to reinforce the plans, policies, and procedures that worked, rather than letting time erode the collective memory of the event.

Many participants emphasized that the partnerships that were so valuable in the response need to be nurtured and further developed so that they can be relied on in the future. Communication strategies need to be refined, and work needs to be done at the community level to ensure that those who need to hear the messages have relationships with those who will be the messengers.

Processes, from manufacturing to distribution and administration, should be looked at with a critical eye to see how they can be simplified and made more transparent to improve the delivery not only of vaccine, but other countermeasures as well. As the CDC’s Merlin said, “The lessons that we learn from stepping back and looking at this entire process and how time can be carved off of the process from detection to manufacturer to distribution to administration—that [saved] time actually translates into saved lives.”