Member countries agree to ambitious WHO Pandemic Agreement

A landmark new agreement adopted by world health leaders in Geneva this week is aimed at keeping the world safer from the destructive impacts of global pandemics.

Following three years and about a dozen formal negotiations held around the world, members of the World Health Assembly endorsed a legally binding accord to bring about better global coordination, collaboration and surveillance around pandemic preparedness, prevention and response.

The WHO Pandemic Agreement, adopted May 20, includes strategies for equitable access to vaccines and treatments that may be needed during pandemics and ways to increase vaccine uptake during a crisis. The agreement grew out of the lessons learned from the devastating COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 7 million people globally since March 2020, including 1.2 million people in the U.S.

Public health officials praised the new agreement as proof that nations can work together for the global good.

“The WHO Pandemic Agreement is a demonstration of the shared desire by all people to be better prepared to prevent and respond to the next pandemic, with a commitment to the principles of respect for human dignity, equity, solidarity and sovereignty,” Esperance Luvindao, MBChB, Namibia’s minister of health and social services, said in a news release.

As the world has become more interconnected, nations must work together for global health security by preventing and preparing for potential pandemic viruses and pathogens, according to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, MSc, WHO director-general.

“The agreement is a victory for public health, science and multilateral action," Ghebreyesus said in a news release. "It will ensure we, collectively, can better protect the world from future pandemic threats.”

Next steps on the WHO Pandemic Agreement include negotiations on a new Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing System. The system will enable member countries to share clinical samples of pathogens and genetic sequences with WHO labs and system databases. 

As part of the system, high-income countries will donate or sell 20% of vaccines made in their respective country to WHO for distribution to middle- and low-income nations to broaden preparedness and response. Negotiations for the new system be held at the 2026 World Health Assembly meeting.

"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,” Teodoro Herbosa, MD, secretary of the Philippines Department of Health and president of World Health Assembly 2025, said in a news release.

One hundred and twenty countries voted in favor of the accord, including China. None voted against it, though 11 countries abstained, including Israel, Italy, Poland, Russia and Iran.

Notably absent from the proceedings was the United States. In January, the Trump administration began the process to withdraw the U.S. from WHO. While still a part of the organization, the U.S. did not send a delegation to the Geneva talks. The U.S. has also not paid $260 million due as part of its 2024-2025 WHO membership, which it is legally obligated to provide.

With the U.S. withdrawal from WHO, the biggest financial contributor to the organization will be China, which sent about 180 delegates to the Geneva meeting.

Other public health topics on the agenda for the assembly, which continues through May 27, include climate and health, air pollution, and better access to mental and behavioral health services.

Photo caption: Representatives of member states of the World Health Assembly celebrate May 20 when the WHO Pandemic Agreement involving 120 nations received official approval. (Photo courtesy World Health Organization)