Genomic, clinical and immunity data join forces for public health

Genomic surveillance of pathogens provides insights into their evolution and spread, supporting the development of targeted interventions, improved public health responses and the advancement of preventive measures such as vaccines. Pathogen sequencing has greatly increased during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The deposition of millions of sequences in global sequence repositories, including the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID), allowed the scientific and public health communities to rapidly develop diagnostic tests, to identify and characterize variants of concern, and to track viral movements at multiple geographic scales.