Although reducing or eliminating socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities in health and healthcare has been an offi cial federal and state policy priority for 2 decades (34), such disparities remain prevalent and may inadvertently become wider when not explicitly addressed by policies designed to improve the health of the population as a whole and of disadvantaged persons in particular (35) . Given the current limitations of our public health infrastructure and the disparities in healthcare, a pandemic infl uenza outbreak in the United States is likely to disproportionately affect persons from socially disadvantaged groups. Explicit, systematic, and detailed plans are essential for overcoming the social barriers that are predicted to result in socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities in pandemic infl uenza illness and death. Saunders and Monet also have called for pandemic infl uenza planning that appropriately considers the needs of disadvantaged populations (36) .