WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Founder and Co-Chair of the Senate Artificial Intelligence (AI) Caucus, reintroduced the MedShield Act of 2025 alongside Co-Chair of the Senate AI Caucus, Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). This legislation would implement a recommendation of the National Security Commission on AI to create a program titled MedShield to leverage AI for national pandemic preparedness and response.
MedShield would be the United States’ “shield” to protect the nation against future pandemics. MedShield would foster collaboration between the public and private sectors as well as with global allies and partners. The program would leverage AI to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of U.S. pandemic prevention and response across five key areas:
Pathogen detection and surveillance
Vaccine development
Therapeutic development
Modeling for pathogen tracking and vaccine distribution
Rapid manufacturing of vaccines and therapeutics
“AI holds amazing potential to supercharge major scientific and medical advances – including our ability to anticipate and address the next public health crisis,” said Heinrich, Founder and Co-Chair of the Senate AI Caucus. “By leveraging AI’s potential, our Medshield Act will ensure we are more prepared for the emergence of new biological threats to mitigate the next pandemic.”
“Artificial intelligence gives us the opportunity to completely revolutionize health care as we know it, including when it comes to rapid response to pandemics,” said Rounds. “The MedShield program would utilize artificial intelligence to help the U.S. identify pathogens that pose pandemic threats and work quickly to develop necessary protections. We can leverage artificial intelligence not only to improve the quality of life for Americans, but to literally save lives and taxpayer dollars. We need to take steps now to effectively respond to pandemic threats.”
The legislation includes:
Findings and a Sense of Congress addressing the nation’s need to be better prepared for a pandemic, noting the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI) recommendation and the need to avoid an initiative such as Operation Warp Speed for the next pandemic.
Requirement for the United States Department of Health and Human Services to operationalize AI to implement the NSCAI recommendation.
Authorization of funding for each fiscal year during FY 2025 – 2029.
Read the full bill text here.
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