Approaches Successes and Challenges in Recruiting Closed Points of Dispensing Sites A Qualitative Study

The authors conducted qualitative interviews with disaster planners to understand how they recruit sites to be closed points of dispensing (PODs). They found that site size, ability to serve populations who lacked access to public PODs, and critical infrastructure organizations were important selection criteria. Lack of understanding of the importance of closed PODs and fear of legal repercussions due to medical countermeasure administration were challenges to closed POD site recruitment. The findings can be useful for other disaster planners expanding their closed POD networks.