Paul Segovis

As such, hospitals and physicians' offices are the first line of defense in the event of a disaster, said Paul Segovis, director of Materials Management and Emergency Response coordinator at Ellis Hospital.

"The hospital has plans to address long-term and short-term issues," Segovis said."We also have staff trained to recognize outbreaks and have procedures to place patients into isolation."

Ellis has specialized equipment to protect staff and the public, such as decontamination gear, gloves and other gear.The state has helped the hospital purchase the equipment."We are the front line and there is recognition that we needed help and we needed equipment to deal with it.The state helped us out," Segovis said.

Ellis is better prepared today than ever to handle a variety of emergencies, Segovis said."Our planning is more detailed than it was 10 years ago.We are very confident with our system.We educate, we train and we are confident it works," he said.

"We know there's going to be some resistance," said Paul Segovis, the director of support services at Schenectady's Ellis Hospital, who is in charge of coordinating bioterrorism efforts there."The important thing is for us to get enough information out."

Workers' vaccinations would be staggered, in anticipation that some people will get sick from the vaccine and need time off, hospital representatives said.

Paul Segovis, director of support services at Ellis Hospital, said officials there remain concerned by the possibility of negative reactions to the shots -- for both health workers and patients who may be exposed to them.In addition, it is not clear how employees who have a negative reaction to the vaccine would be cared for and compensated for time missed from work.

"What do we tell these people?"Segovis said.

The statewide association of counties also has voiced concern over the resources that will be required to administer the shots.County officials have said they may need to cut programs in other services to make the vaccination program work.

It could not be determined when or where the vaccine would arrive in New York.Neither state nor federal officials would release that information, citing security reasons.