In a historic development, the World Health Assembly (WHA) at its plenary session today adopted a Pandemic Agreement, which is designed to better prepare the world and form a more equitable response to the next pandemic.
The WHA, made up of World Health Organization (WHO) member states, is the WHO's decision-making body. Yesterday, the Pandemic Agreement passed the committee A with 124 voting in favor, none against, and 11 abstaining.
In the making for 3 years, the agreement has been the subject of intense negotiations by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body appointed by WHO member states. In a WHO statement today, Teodoro Herbosa, MD, secretary of the Philippines Department of Health and president of this year’s WHA, said, now that the agreement has passed, health leaders must urgently implement its key elements, which include systems to ensure more 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," he said.
The WHO Pandemic Agreement offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
The WHO emphasized that the Pandemic Agreement includes wording clarifying that the agreement doesn't provide the WHO or its leadership to dictate, order, or proscribe national or domestic laws or impose any requirements to take specific actions, such as travel bans or vaccine mandates.
Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity needs strong commitments
In a statement yesterday after committee A passage, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) praised countries and negotiators for advancing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make the world safer. CEPI also said it stands ready to help implement the agreement.
The organization noted, however, that the agreement on its own won't deliver the level of pandemic preparedness the world urgently needs. "It will take sustained investment, enduring political commitment and unprecedented scientific collaboration to create the systemic change needed to protect not just our own generation, but generations to come," CEPI said.
Matthew Kavanagh, PhD, director of Georgetown University's Center for Global Health Policy and Politics, said in an O'Neill Institute statement today that the Pandemic Agreement's passage by the world's health ministers is remarkable, given the current geopolitical context, which is colored by competition and acrimony.
He said it creates new international law that gives new clarity to declarations of pandemic emergency and establishes a framework for sharing technology during health emergencies to help avoid inequities seen in COVID, AIDS, Ebola, and other recent epidemics.
Kavanagh said that, unfortunately, rich countries watered down some key elements, making them more of a suggestion than a requirement. "So it's not fully clear whether this new international law will have impact. That will be decided in how it's implemented," he added.
It's not fully clear whether this new international law will have impact. That will be decided in how it's implemented.
The United States didn’t participate in final negotiations, which might have provided a silver lining, Kavanagh said. "With the current administration seemingly intent on dismantling global public health efforts, this may be the best-case scenario if the rest of the world can come together," he said. "In that way, this new agreement is a spot of light in an otherwise dark geopolitical environment for fighting pandemics."
Benefit sharing, financing, and supply chain components
Now that WHA has adopted the agreement, the next step is to start the process to draft and negotiate a Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system (PABS) through an Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG), which will be considered at next year's WHA.
Once the WHA adopts the PABS annex, the agreement will be open for signature and ratification, including by national legislative bodies. The agreement will enter force after 60 ratifications.
Member states also asked the IGWG to take the first steps to set up a financing mechanism for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response, as well as a global supply chain and logistics network.
Also, pharmaceutical companies who will participate in the PABS system will make available to WHO rapid access to 20% of real-time production of pandemic-related vaccines, diagnostics, and drugs.
Member states approve 20% increase in contributions
In other WHA developments today, member states approved a 20% increase in assessed contributions to the WHO while endorsing its 2026-27 budget, which the WHO said comes on the heels of a similar increase ahead of its 2024-25 budget and against difficult economic headwinds that countries are facing at home.
In a statement, WHO leadership thanked member states for their "profound vote of confidence in WHO's mission and their commitment to health security and resilience worldwide."
Given drops in global health funding, the WHO had downsized the 2026-27 budget by 22%.
The United States is not participating in the WHA, following President Donald Trump's January decision to withdraw from the WHO. In a video message aired at today’s meeting, US Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended the administration’s decision to withdraw and invited other health ministers to create new institutions or remodel existing ones that align with what he said are US ideals.
