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Chapter 9 Make--and fund-- a plan for preventing pandemics For decades, people told the world to get ready for a pandemic. Now that we're in one, the top priority is to get out of it. What I worry about, though, is that once we do get out of it, the world's attention will turn to other problems, and pandemic prevention will once again get moved to the back burner--or taken off the stove entirely. But ending the immediate crisis and getting ready to prevent the next one have a lot in common. The things we need to do to bring an end to the COVID crisis are also some of the key things we need to do to start shoring up our defenses for the future: 1. Make better tools for preventing, detecting, and treating infectious diseases. 2. Start to develop a dedicated team to help with germ games and data systems. A key activity will be working with countries to improve disease surveillance so every country can know what's going on within its borders and can alert the world to new variants or viruses. 3. And strengthen primary health care systems, especially in low- and middleincome countries.