At the World Health Assembly, members of the World Health Organization (WHO) voted in favor of a potential global treaty to improve pandemic preparedness. About this informs Reuters.
124 countries voted “yes” after Slovakia, at the initiative of its prime minister, who is critical of vaccines against COVID-19, called for a vote to challenge the adoption of the document. No country spoke against it. At the same time, 11 countries, including Poland, Israel, Italy, Russia, Slovakia and Iran, abstained.
“Governments around the world are making their countries and our interconnected global community more equitable, healthier and safer from the threats posed by pathogens and viruses with pandemic potential.” – said the Director General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The draft agreement should be officially adopted on Tuesday at the plenary session of the World Health Assembly in Geneva. It aims to address structural inequalities in the development of medicines, vaccines and healthcare tools, taking into account the experience gained during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the document will not enter into force until the approval of the annex regulating the exchange of pathogens. This process can take up to two years, after which states must ratify the agreement.
We will remind that on April 16, 2025, WHO member countries reached a consensus on strengthening the world’s preparedness for possible future pandemics. After three years of difficult negotiations, this agreement is seen as a significant step in strengthening global cooperation.
The legally binding document aims to increase the level of protection against new pathogens, given the tragic experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, which claimed millions of lives in 2020-2022. The agreement includes measures to prevent new outbreaks and improve the coordination of the international response to health threats.
This agreement is widely regarded as an achievement by the WHO, especially in the context of financial difficulties experienced by many international organizations, in particular due to the reduction of external support from the United States.
