International coalition adopts first pandemic response treaty

World Health Organization member states on Tuesday approved an agreement intended to help the international community prevent, prepare for, and respond to future pandemics. Assembly leaders spent more than three years debating and drafting the agreement in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO in December 2021 formed the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body to hammer out an agreement and the group last month submitted its final proposal for consideration. Members voted on the agreement Tuesday with 124 voting in favor, 11 abstaining, and none objecting.

What is included in the agreement? Signatories will create a Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system to ensure timely and equitable access to pandemic-related products and health supplies, according to the agreement. The 30-page treaty also calls for increased surveillance to identify viruses that pose a threat of spreading rapidly. WHO officials do not have the authority to direct or impose requirements on participating countries regarding vaccination mandates, lockdowns, or diagnostic measures.

Is the U.S. part of the deal? The United States was not part of the final stages of developing the agreement after President Donald Trump in January withdrew from the United Nations-run WHO. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday addressed the WHO in a prerecorded video and called for international health cooperation free of political influence. He claimed the pandemic agreement would solidify the dysfunctions of the WHO’s earlier response to COVID-19, and urged international health ministers to create lean institutions that he said would be more efficient and transparent. 

Dig deeper: Read Josh Schumacher’s report about the United States leaving the WHO.