Implementation of a COVID-19 Closed/Open POD Partnership: A Creative Professional Practice Exemplar for Occupational and Environmental Health Nurses

For more than 15 years, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that all community agencies and workplace environments create structured communication and collaborative plans for emergency or disaster events (2008). This recommendation is aligned with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (2022) National Infrastructure Protection Plan. The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic ultimately demonstrated the importance of having organized plans and processes in place for the effective and rapid dispensing of medical countermeasures (MCMs) to the general populace. Occupational and environmental health nurses (OHNs) can utilize examples of successful MCM dispensing programs and adjust details to fit individual organizational needs.

This report examines a closed point of dispensing (Closed POD) mass vaccination program as a guide for designing successful workplace partnerships.

Closed PODs are public or private sites that have set up a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with local health authorities to dispense MCMs to their populations during a public health emergency. The desired outcome of a closed POD agreement is the facilitation of employee health and safety, as well as enabling workplace continuity of operations.

OHNs will play a pivotal role in any future disaster or emergency event. Because OHNs understand the critical need for anticipatory planning, they are in a prime position to drive the creation and implementation of a closed POD partnership between their workplace and their local health department.