The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, now under fire for its sloppy handling of Ebola virus cases in the U.S., spent time and resources in 2011 to educate Americans about the epidemic threat posed by a zombie apocalypse. 'If you're ready for a Zombie Apocalypse, you're ready for any emergency,' read one CDC Internet graphic designed to be spread – virally – on social media. The campaign, complete with a gorey 36-page graphic novella called 'Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic',' a 'Zombie blog' and slick horror-movie posters, drew applause from fans of the AMC series 'The Walking Dead,' but eye-rolls from most everyone else.
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CDC spent staff time organizing a 'Zombie Preparedness' website and creating a graphic novella
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'That’s right,' a CDC website read. 'I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you’ll be happy you read this'
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Tom Frieden, the embattled CDC director, helmed the agency in 2011 when the campaign went – ahem – viral
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Frieden is the subject of several resignation demands since his agency fumbled the first three Ebola cases diagnosed on U.S. soil
'There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for,' the agency's @placeholder website, which is still online, reads.