WASHINGTON (AP) — Signaling the seriousness of the threat posed by antibiotic-resistant germs, President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered the government to create a national plan to fight them by early 2015.

“This is an urgent health threat and a threat to our economic stability as well,” said Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as he joined two of Obama’s scientific advisers to announce the steps.