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Spanish language version of "Embedded: Puerto Rico’s Public Health Emergency Preparedness Academy" blog post.

Each September, the United States observes National Preparedness Month, a month dedicated to raising awareness of public health preparedness. Preparedness—a field that readies our nation to respond to a range of emergencies—is a newer public health discipline, advanced by lessons learned from each response to a public health threat. While significant progress has been made over the past 20 years, the COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on the need to strengthen state and local capabilities to address future emergencies. The history of public health preparedness is worth understanding, as each current and future response is impacted by lessons from the past.

For many individuals living with disabilities, inaccessible vaccination websites have been a significant barrier to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Recent studies have found that many vaccination websites do not reliably meet accessibility standards. This brief discusses how several disability rights laws apply to COVID-19 vaccine registration websites and offers considerations for state and territorial health agencies as they work to improve website accessibility for people living with disabilities.

Over the past twenty years, the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and natural disasters have increased and, by most accounts, this trend will continue. Certain disabilities and activity limitations make it more difficult to prepare for and evacuate from an incident, underscoring the importance of planning in advance. Read about ASTHO’s specialists Erin Dotten (Michigan), Brooke Riester (New Mexico), and Stephen Heck (South Dakota), who have extensive experience understanding and responding to the needs of people living with disabilities during natural disasters.

When Beatriz Vallejo, the disability and preparedness specialist in Puerto Rico, first joined the health agency, she took on planning a novel program to share knowledge and clarify each sectors’ roles and responsibilities during an emergency.