World Health Assembly Adopts World’s First Pandemic Agreement
The adoption followed yesterday’s approval of the Agreement by vote where 124 delegates were in favor and there were no objections recorded. Eleven delegates were absent and therefore did not vote.
Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) have formally adopted by consensus the world’s first Pandemic Agreement. The decision taken at the ongoing World Health Assembly in Geneva culminates more than three years of intensive negotiations launched by governments in response to the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and driven by the goal of making the world safer from and more equitable in response to future pandemics.
In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said the agreement is a victory for public health, science, and multilateral action. “It will ensure we, collectively, can better protect the world from future pandemic threats. It is also a recognition by the international community that our citizens, societies, and economies must not be left vulnerable to again suffer losses like those endured during COVID-19.”
The adoption followed yesterday’s approval of the Agreement by vote, where 124 delegates were in favor and there were no objections recorded. Eleven delegates were absent and therefore did not vote. “Starting during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments from all corners of the world acted with great purpose, dedication and urgency, and in doing so exercising their national sovereignty, to negotiate the historic WHO Pandemic Agreement that has been adopted today,” said Dr Teodoro Herbosa, Secretary of the Philippines Department of Health, and President of this year’s World Health Assembly, who presided over the Agreement’s adoption.
“Now that the Agreement has been brought to life, we must all act with the same urgency to implement its critical elements, including systems to ensure equitable access to life-saving pandemic-related health products. As COVID was a once-in-a-lifetime emergency, the WHO Pandemic Agreement offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build on lessons learned from that crisis and ensure people worldwide are better protected if a future pandemic emerges.”
The WHO Pandemic Agreement sets out the principles, approaches, and tools for better international coordination across a range of areas, in order to strengthen the global health architecture for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. This includes the equitable and timely access to vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.
However, while the negotiations started years ago in December 2021, member countries only concluded negotiations in April as there were disagreements along the way with fears by some sections that the treaty’s core principle was extreme greed and selfishness perpetuated by the rich countries, protecting multinational drug companies at the expense of the rest of the world. Others feared that the WHO would take away countries’ powers to make decisions in times of public health emergencies.
Now, regarding national sovereignty, the Agreement states that: “Nothing in the WHO Pandemic Agreement shall be interpreted as providing the Secretariat of the World Health Organization, including the Director-General of the World Health Organization, any authority to direct, order, alter or otherwise prescribe the national and/or domestic law, as appropriate, or policies of any Party, or to mandate or otherwise impose any requirements that Parties take specific actions, such as ban or accept travellers, impose vaccination mandates or therapeutic or diagnostic measures or implement lockdowns.”
