The 70th anniversary of Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) is a reminder of the extraordinary work that scientists have already undertaken to protect humanity against pandemic threats, says the Pandemic Prevention Institute at the Rockefeller Foundation.
GISRS became a vital resource during the COVID-19 pandemic. But influenza is where it all started. In any given year, influenza is estimated to cause 3–5 million cases of severe illness and about 290 000 to 650 000 deaths globally. Thanks to GISRS, we know that our best defense against the ongoing threat of influenza pandemics and non-influenza emergencies is cross-sector collaboration, monitoring circulating viruses to update annual vaccines while keeping a close watch on the effectiveness of testing and treatment options.
Following in the footsteps of GISRS, in 2006, a global plan to share avian flu data led to the GISAID Initiative, which focuses on international exchange of all types of influenza virus data and the collaborative publication of results. GISAID went on to become a vital partner of GISRS in 2008, bringing a global community of scientists together to accurately collect high quality epidemiologic data, and also to track influenza viruses for seasonal protection as well as pandemic preparedness.
With this collaboration in place, GISRS was well-positioned to manage the multitude of laboratory data created by the COVID-19 pandemic. On January 10 2020, GISAID shared the first complete genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2. It soon became the world's most important resource for sharing genomic data on variants, enabling rapid global tracking of the outbreak and empowering local and global knowledge to support scientific and policy decision-making.
GISRS and GISAID show that threats to humanity can only be successfully fought through global cooperation and collaboration. Without global participation, new SARS-CoV-2 variants such as Delta and Omicron could have hit each country as potentially new and unknown or uncharacterized outbreaks, with countries unaware and unprepared to respond in a timely manner to save lives.
The Rockefeller Foundation's Pandemic Prevention Institute (PPI) applauds the success of both GISRS and GISAID. We look forward to working with both to widen networks and broaden collaborations across disciplines to strengthen adaptable systems that link surveillance data with clinical, environmental, and syndromic data sets and enhance our collective ability to get ahead of future outbreaks.
Both GISRS and GISAID are vital and future growth of global surveillance systems should complement these foundational systems, not replace them. At the PPI, we do not aim to build new collection methods but rather help connect existing and disparate data (both traditional and non-traditional) to create a global network of networks.
None of our work would have been imaginable without the success that GISRS has built over the past 70 years. Congratulations to GISRS. We look forward to continued growth and expansion and intend to sing the praises in this anniversary year of the scientists, laboratories, governments, WHO and other organizations so critical to their success.
