US Needs Plan to Coordinate Research Before Next Pandemic, Officials Say

Melva Mlambo, right, and Puseletso Lesofi, both medical scientists prepare to sequence COVID-19 omicron samples at the Ndlovu Research Center in Elandsdoorn, South Africa, on Dec. 8, 2021. Jerome Delay/AP Photo, File

Public health officials say the United States needs a plan and infrastructure to avoid the fragmented response to a new disease that marked its response to the COVID pandemic.

“We don’t have a systemic approach to medical product testing,” said Dr. Janet Woodcock, principal deputy commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).