Disease propagation analysis and mitigation strategies for effective mass dispensing.

Mass dispensing of medical countermeasures has been proven to be an effective and crucial means to contain the outbreak of highly infectious disease. The large influx of individuals to the point-of dispensing (POD) centers to receive vaccinations or prophylactic treatment, however, raises the potential risk of serious intra-facility cross-infections. To mitigate the effect, a thorough understanding of how disease propagates during the dispensing under different transmission parameters versus POD design and operational factors is necessary.