The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has unveiled its Pathogen Genomics Strategy, outlining a 5-year plan to enhance the organization’s role in pathogen genomics for pandemic preparedness and response. The strategy aims to improve the detection and understanding of pathogens posing risks to the UK population, thereby informing evidence-based policy and public health decision making.

Pathogen genomics involves sequencing pathogen genomes to gain insights into their genetic code, providing crucial information about their identity, ancestry, and behavior in human populations. This approach has proven instrumental in detecting new threats, identifying outbreaks, tracking disease transmission, assessing immune responses, selecting effective vaccines, detecting antimicrobial resistance, and determining optimal treatments for individuals.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the integration of genomics into public health systems, with the UK contributing over 3 million SARS-CoV-2 sequences to the international GISAID database, demonstrating the value of genomics in identifying foodborne outbreaks and assessing risks from emerging pathogens.

The UKHSA Pathogen Genomics Strategy emphasizes the significance of pathogen genomics in infectious disease control, aiming to keep the UK at the forefront of genomic research to benefit public health and safeguard lives and livelihoods. The strategy outlines seven strategic aims, including optimizing clinical and public health decision-making, driving improvements in diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics, providing a nationally coordinated pathogen genomics service, and supporting workforce transformation within and beyond UKHSA.

By leveraging existing infrastructure, capacity, and scientific capabilities, the UKHSA’s strategy sets the vision for pathogen genomics over the next five years, ensuring the implementation of genomics to enhance public health and protect lives and livelihoods.