730 Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 21 / Thursday, January 31, 2019 / Notices 

10Ma, X., et al. (2018). ‘‘Rabies surveillance in the 

United States during 2016.’’ JAVMA 252(8): 945– 

957. 

costs to mount responses in the event of 

an importation of a dog with CRVV. In 

addition, individuals or their insurance 

companies may face costs associated 

with post-exposure prophylaxis if they 

are exposed to the imported dog. 

A threshold analysis was performed 

to compare the potential annualized 

costs and benefits of the clarification to 

the guidance to the potential cost of an 

importation of a dog with CRVV. To 

perform the threshold analysis, HHS/ 

CDC compared the most likely estimate, 

lower bound, and upper bound of the 

annual net benefits (reduced costs) of 

the new guidance to the potential costs 

of an importation and calculated the 

annual risk of importation necessary for 

costs to equal benefits (reduced costs). 

HHS/CDC rabies subject matter 

experts estimate that the public health 

response would require about 800 hours 

per event for investigation, providing 

post-exposure prophylaxis to about 16 

people exposed to the infected dog after 

importation, and addressing 30 animal 

exposures per importation. The net 

benefits (reduced costs) estimate can be 

compared to the estimated response 

costs associated with a dog imported 

while infected with CRVV ($213,833, 

range $171,066 to $256,599). See 

Section 7 of the supplemental appendix 

for additional details on this cost 

estimate. This response cost does not 

include the small risk that a person 

could die after becoming infected with 

the rabies virus in the absence of 

receiving post-exposure prophylaxis. 

Although U.S. residents have died after 

exposure to rabid dogs in other 

countries, no such deaths have resulted 

from exposures to U.S. dogs since CRVV 

was eliminated in the United States in 

2007. The probability of such a death 

cannot be quantified, but is expected to 

be very low under either scenario. 

Expected net benefits (reduced costs) 

would exceed the potential costs 

associated with the importation of a dog 

with CRVV if fewer than 26 dogs per 

year with CRVV are imported from 

countries classified as CRVV-free or 

low-risk under the new guidance using 

the most likely estimates. In the worst 

case scenario, the lower bound estimate 

of annualized benefits (reduced costs, 

$2.6 million) minus the upper bound 

estimate of annualized costs ($780,000) 

results in an annualized net benefit of 

about $1.8 million. This worst case 

annualized net benefit can be compared 

to the upper bound cost estimate 

associated with the importation of a dog 

with CRVV ($256,599 per event) to 

estimate a worst case scenario threshold 

(6.9 dogs per year). 

This threshold analysis can be 

compared to surveillance data from 

Mexico, a country that is considered 

low-risk. Mexico only identified 11 dogs 

over the previous 2 years in which 

surveillance data were available.10

Thus, even if all of the dogs found with 

CRVV in Mexico over the past two years 

had been imported to the United States, 

the response costs would have fallen 

under the threshold result. Even in the 

worst case scenario, it is extremely 

unlikely that costs will exceed benefits 

as a result of this clarification in 

guidance. As noted above, HHS/CDC 

also believes that any increased risk of 

importation from a CRVV-free or lowrisk country may be offset by allowing 

DHS/CBP officers to spend more time 

evaluating dogs entering the United 

States from high-risk countries. DHS/ 

CBP officers reported that they expected 

to increase the amount of time spent on 

dogs from high-risk countries by 3–17 

minutes per dog under the new 

guidance. By refocusing screening effort 

at U.S. POEs from dogs from CRVV-free 

or low-risk countries to dogs from highrisk countries, the overall risk of 

importation of a dog with CRVV may be 

reduced. 

Possible Additional Activities by State 

or Local Governments 

As noted throughout this FRN, 

importers should continue to check 

with state and local government officials 

regarding requirements of the final 

destination prior to entry or re-entry 

into the United States; this new federal 

policy is not intended to invalidate or 

supersede such requirements. State and 

local governments may also have to 

increase efforts to educate their 

populations about their dog vaccination 

requirements in the absence of the HHS/ 

CDC requirement for proof of rabies 

vaccination for dogs to enter from 

CRVV-free or low-risk countries under 

the previous guidance. However, HHS/ 

CDC was not able to estimate any costs 

associated with these efforts. 

V. Paperwork Reduction Act 

This clarification does not institute a 

new collection of information. The 

collection of information, has been 

previously approved by the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) in 

accordance with the requirements of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 

3507) and assigned the following OMB 

control number: Foreign Quarantine: 

OMB Control No. 0920–0134, expiration 

date 5/31/2019. 

Dated: January 28, 2019. 

Sandra Cashman, 

Executive Secretary, Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention. 

[FR Doc. 2019–00506 Filed 1–30–19; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4163–18–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention 

Notice of Closed Meeting 

Pursuant to section 10(d) of the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act, as 

amended, notice is hereby given of the 

following meeting. 

The meeting will be closed to the 

public in accordance with the 

provisions set forth in sections 

552b(c)(4) and 552b(c)(6), Title 5 U.S.C., 

as amended, and the Determination of 

the Chief Operating Officer, CDC, 

pursuant to Public Law 92–463. The 

grant applications and the discussions 

could disclose confidential trade secrets 

or commercial property such as 

patentable material, and personal 

information concerning individuals 

associated with the grant applications, 

the disclosure of which would 

constitute a clearly unwarranted 

invasion of personal privacy. 

Name of Committee: Disease, Disability, 

and Injury Prevention and Control Special 

Emphasis Panel (SEP)—Funding Opportunity 

Announcement (FOA), PAR 16–098, 

Cooperative Research Agreements to the 

World Trade Center Health Program (U01). 

Dates and Times: March 27, 2019, 8:00 

a.m.–5:00 p.m., EDT and March 28, 2019, 

8:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m., EDT. 

Place: Hampton Inn & Suites Atlanta 

Buckhead, 3312 Piedmont Road, Atlanta, 

Georgia 30305, Telephone: (404) 816–7309. 

Agenda: To review and evaluate grant 

applications. 

For Further Information Contact: Nina 

Turner, Ph.D., Scientific Review Officer, 

CDC/NIOSH, 1095 Willowdale Road, 

Mailstop L10555, Morgantown, West Virginia 

26505, (304) 285–5975, nxt2@cdc.gov. 

The Chief Operating Officer, Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention, has been 

delegated the authority to sign Federal 

Register notices pertaining to 

announcements of meetings and other 

committee management activities, for both 

the Centers for Disease Control and 

Prevention and the Agency for Toxic 

Substances and Disease Registry. 

Sherri A. Berger, 

Chief Operating Officer, Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention. 

[FR Doc. 2019–00274 Filed 1–30–19; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4163–18–P 


amozie on DSK3GDR082PROD with NOTICES1