Agreement aims to prevent the repetition of the disjointed response and the international disarray that surrounded the COVVI-19 pandemic.
The members of the World Health Organization (WHO) have adopted an agreement intended to improve preparation for future pandemics, but the absence of the United States questioning the effectiveness of the treaty.
After three years of negotiations, the legally binding pact was adopted Tuesday by the World Health Assembly in Geneva. WHO member countries have welcomed its death by applause.
The agreement aims to prevent a repetition of the disjointed response and the international disarray that surrounded the COVVI-19 pandemic by improving coordination, monitoring and access to drugs during any future pandemic.
“It’s a historic day,” said chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus after the vote.
The text of the agreement was Finalized last month After several cycles of tense negotiations.
“The world is safer today thanks to leadership, collaboration and commitment of our Member States to adopt the historic pandemic agreement,” Tedros said in a statement.
“The agreement is a victory for public health, science and multilateral action. This will, collectively, better protect the world from future pandemic threats. It is also recognition of the international community that our citizens, societies and economies should not be vulnerable again to undergo losses like those endured during COVID-19,” he added.
The agreement aims to better detect and combat pandemics by focusing on greater coordination and international surveillance and more equitable access to vaccines and treatments.
Negotiations were stretched in the midst of disagreements between rich and developing countries, the latter feeling cutting from access to vaccines during the COVVI-19 pandemic.
Dr. Esperance Luvindao, Minister of Health of Namibia and president of a committee which paved the way for the adoption of the agreement, said that COVID-19 has inflicted enormous costs “to lives, livelihoods and economies”.
“We, as a sovereign, decided to join hands as a world together, so we can protect our children, our elders, our front -line health workers and all the others from the next pandemic,” added Luvindao. “It is our duty and our responsibility towards humanity.”
Efficient without American support?
The United States, traditionally the best donor in WHO, were not one of the final stages of the agreement process after the Trump administration announced the US OMS withdrawal and financing of the agency in January.
The Secretary in the United States of Health and Social Services Robert F Kennedy Jr criticized WHO as “Moribonde” during the annual assembly.
“I urge the global ministers of health and the WHO to take our withdrawal from the organization as alarm clock,” he said in a video presented at the meeting in Geneva. “We have already been in contact with countries sharing the same ideas, and we encourage others to consider joining us.”
Kennedy accused WHO of not learning pandemic lessons.
“He doubled with the pandemic agreement, which will lock all the malfunction of the Pandemic response of the WHO. … We are not going to participate,” he said.
The effectiveness of the treaty will face doubts without the United States, which have paid billions to ensure that pharmaceutical companies are rapidly developing COVVI-19 vaccines. Countries are faced with no penalty if they ignore it, a common question in international law.
The countries have until May 2026 to eliminate the details of the mechanism of access to pathogens and the benefits of the agreement (PAB).
The Pabs mechanism deals with the sharing of access to pathogens with the pandemic potential, then the sharing of the advantages which result from it, such as vaccines, tests and treatments.
Once the Pabs system is finalized, countries can then ratify the agreement. Once 60 will, the treaty will then come into force.