Golden State Today

California is set to leverage the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic to design and harness new technologies and tools for future pandemic preparedness and prevention. Today, Governor Gavin Newsom announced an agreement to enhance the state’s ability to prepare for and potentially prevent the next pandemic by integrating the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine into the California Health and Human Services Agency (CalHHS) and broadening its scope to include technologies relevant to pandemic prevention.

“The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the necessity for robust public-private partnerships to respond rapidly to emerging public health threats. By harnessing the power of precision medicine, California is moving to the forefront of pandemic preparedness and prevention,” said Governor Gavin Newsom.

Pandemic preparedness and prevention are critical for safeguarding public health and ensuring societal and economic resilience against infectious disease outbreaks. This involves early detection through advanced diagnostics, rapid response mechanisms, and integrating data and technology to monitor and predict disease trends. Strengthening healthcare infrastructure, enhancing the public health workforce, and fostering community engagement are also essential components. By strategically investing in precision medicine research, California aims to develop next-generation tools for a more targeted response to infectious diseases.

The California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine was launched in 2015 to support collaborative research between the state, researchers, patients, communities, and industry. Precision medicine uses advanced computing tools to aggregate, integrate, and analyze vast amounts of data from various settings to better understand health and disease, developing more targeted diagnostics, therapeutics, and prevention measures.

Max Henderson, Co-Founder, CEO, and Chief Data Scientist at CovidActNow stated: “The time to prepare is now. California already has many promising technologies to mitigate future pandemics, but we need consistent focus to drive down costs and deploy them in the field. This new focus on pandemic prevention will help California lead the way in preventing the loss of life, economic devastation, and large-scale shutdowns from future outbreaks. I commend the Newsom administration for pledging to carry on this important work.”

Dr. Mark Ghaly, CalHHS Secretary added: “California aims to set a new standard for pandemic preparedness and prevention, ensuring a safer and healthier future for all residents.” He emphasized that this move underscores California’s commitment to advancing public health through innovation.

Dr. Steve Luby from Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health commented: “There are very few actions we can take in this world that could result in alleviating more suffering and saving more lives than preventing another global pandemic – I am glad to see Governor Newsom and the State of California pick up that torch.”

This reorganization is reflected in AB/SB 164 legislation. Once passed by the Legislature, Californians Against Pandemics have agreed to withdraw their ballot initiative measure scheduled for November 2024.