Planning for national allocationsof pandemic influenzamedical countermeasuresconsiderations brief Planning for national allocations of pandemic influenza medical countermeasures: considerations brief ISBN 978-92-4-011788-4 (electronic version)ISBN 978-92-4-011789-1 (print version) © World Health Organization 2025 Some rights reserved. This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGOlicence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo). Under the terms of this licence, you may copy, redistribute and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, providedthe work is appropriately cited, as indicated below. In any use of this work, there should be no suggestion that WHOendorses any specific organization, products or services. The use of the WHO logo is not permitted. If you adapt the work,then you must license your work under the same or equivalent Creative Commons licence. If you create a translation ofthis work, you should add the following disclaimer along with the suggested citation:“This translation was not created bythe World Health Organization (WHO). WHO is not responsible for the content or accuracy of this translation. The originalEnglish edition shall be the binding and authentic edition”. Any mediation relating to disputes arising under the licence shall be conducted in accordance with the mediation rules ofthe World Intellectual Property Organization (http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/mediation/rules/). Suggested citation. Planning for national allocations of pandemic influenza medical countermeasures: considerationsbrief. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2025. Licence:CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. Cataloguing-in-Publication (CIP) data.CIP data are available athttps://iris.who.int/. Sales, rights and licensing.To purchase WHO publications, seehttps://www.who.int/publications/book-orders. Tosubmit requests for commercial use and queries on rights and licensing, seehttps://www.who.int/copyright. Third-party materials.If you wish to reuse material from this work that is attributed to a third party, such as tables,figures or images, it is your responsibility to determine whether permission is needed for that reuse and to obtainpermission from the copyright holder. The risk of claims resulting from infringement of any third-party-owned componentin the work rests solely with the user. General disclaimers.The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not implythe expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of WHO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city orarea or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Dotted and dashed lines on mapsrepresent approximate border lines for which there may not yet be full agreement. The mention of specific companies or of certain manufacturers’ products does not imply that they are endorsed orrecommended by WHO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. Errors and omissions excepted,the names of proprietary products are distinguished by initial capital letters. All reasonable precautions have been taken by WHO to verify the information contained in this publication. However, thepublished material is being distributed without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. The responsibility for theinterpretation and use of the material lies with the reader. In no event shall WHO be liable for damages arising from its use. Contents AcknowledgementsvAbbreviationsviExecutive summaryviiCore ethical principles for allocationviiNavigating trade-offsviiiMonitoring, evaluation, and adjustmentixContingency planning for allocation continuityix1.Introduction1 1.4Allocation triggers and inputs1.4.1Regulatory framework for pandemic products1.4.2Recommendations on the use of the products1.4.3Delivery considerations in allocation decision-making1.4.4Financing 2.Setting up an allocation framework and related mechanisms at national level 2.1Functions related to allocation mechanisms2.1.1Coordination, communication and engagements2.1.2Decision-making and technical-advisory2.1.3Data gathering and analysis2.1.4Monitoring and evaluation 77788 2.2Allocation principles 2.3Limitations and tradeoffs that might occur when considering different principles112.3.1Likely unethical approaches to resource allocation122.4Allocation criteria/ datapoints assessments132.4.1Epidemiological data on disease’s spread and impact132.4.2Epidemiological data on key population risk groups142.4.3Product-specific details142.4.4Health systems capacities142.4.5Geographical considerations152.4.6Legal considerations152.4.7Tools to support operations and monitoring and evaluation approaches162.4.8Contingency Planning16 3.Conclusion18References19Annexes21Annex 1. Figure 1. Decision pathway for treatment and prophylaxis of persons with symptoms of influenza)21Annex 2. Examples of global data sources for data inputs