Pathogen Genomic Surveillance as a Tool of Public Health Intelligence in Brazil during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020-2023)

Abstract

Infectious disease is a national security threat that knows no borders or laws. In order to address the threat of infectious disease outbreaks, governments rely on Public Health Intelligence (PHI) systems to detect and monitor outbreaks. PHI, the process of gathering, analyzing, and disseminating data to address health threats, was a key tool used to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Within PHI, pathogen genomic surveillance technologies were a critical tool that informed policy decisions throughout the pandemic. Pathogen genomic surveillance monitors pathogen genetic material in real time, providing the necessary intelligence to political officials to understand the threat level of emerging health threats. This study seeks to understand how pathogen genomic surveillance was implemented as a tool of PHI during the COVID-19 pandemic. Resulting in over 774 million infections and 7 million deaths, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a ripple of economic, political, and social change that jeopardized national security internationally. Such effects can be observed within the case study of Brazil. By 2021, Brazil had over 1.8 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and was considered to have one of the worst responses to the pandemic globally. This study analyzes the role of pathogen genomic surveillance as a tool of PHI in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through case study analysis, this study finds that technological capability was not the issue for Brazil’s PHI response. Rather, a lack of accessibility to the necessary technologies across the country hindered the ability to turn high quality intelligence into actionable, timely policy.