WHO pandemic treaty talks stall

Why it matters

The World Health Organization’s pandemic treaty talks have not collapsed, but they did not end with a fully finished pact either. On May 20, 2025, the World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement after more than three years of negotiations that began during the COVID-19 era. But governments carved out the most disputed piece — a Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system, or PABS — and sent it into a new open-ended intergovernmental process instead of settling it in the final deal. (who.int) That distinction matters because pathogen sharing sits at the center of how any future pandemic response would work. Countries want rapid access to samples and sequence data when a dangerous outbreak begins, while many lower- and middle-income states want firmer guarantees that they will also get vaccines, diagnostics and treatments developed from those materials. (sdg.iisd.org) WHO’s own description of the agreement says the PABS annex still has to be drafted and negotiated before the accord can open for signature. ### If a pandemic agreement was adopted, why are people saying talks stalled? The key date is May 20, 2025: that is when member states approved the agreement itself, but not the pathogen-sharing annex that many negotiators saw as one of the hardest operational questions. (who.int) The World Health Assembly resolution launched an Intergovernmental Working Group to negotiate that system separately and submit the result to the 79th World Health Assembly in 2026. The Hindustan Times report describing the talks as “paralysed” referred to that unresolved PABS fight and to member states continuing work under an open-ended intergovernmental format rather than finishing the entire package at once. (who.int) In practice, the treaty exists in adopted form, but one of its central implementation pieces does not. ### What exactly is the dispute over pathogen sharing? PABS stands for Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing. WHO says the process is meant to govern both access to pathogens with pandemic potential and the sharing of benefits that come from using them, including medical products and other public-health gains. (who.int) The argument is structural as much as technical. During COVID-19, many governments in the Global South said they shared information and biological materials without getting equitable access to vaccines and other countermeasures in return. The unfinished PABS annex is the place where countries are trying to write those obligations more concretely. That is an inference from the design of the negotiations and WHO’s description of the annex’s purpose. (hindustantimes.com) ### Where do the International Health Regulations fit into this? The International Health Regulations are a separate legal framework from the pandemic agreement. WHO says amendments to the IHR were adopted on June 1, 2024, after a negotiating process that concluded on May 24, 2024. (who.int) That means some claims that IHR work is still unfinished need qualification. The amendments were adopted, but politics around them did not disappear. The U.S. government said on July 18, 2025 that it formally rejected the 2024 IHR amendments, in a joint statement from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. (who.int) ### Why is this resurfacing during the Ebola outbreak? On May 17, 2026, WHO determined that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda was a public health emergency of international concern. WHO said that as of May 16 there had been eight laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases and 80 suspected deaths in Ituri Province in the DRC. (who.int) That outbreak has put fresh attention on the mechanics of outbreak reporting, sample sharing, diagnostics and international response. WHO said its emergency advice included activating national emergency coordination, scaling diagnostics and response operations, and supporting cross-border preparedness. (hhs.gov) ### What happens next? The next institutional checkpoint is the 79th World Health Assembly in 2026. WHO and related summaries of the 2025 vote say governments are supposed to take up the outcome of the Intergovernmental Working Group’s negotiations on the PABS annex there. (who.int) The agreement itself will open for signature only after that annex is adopted, and it will enter into force after 60 ratifications, according to WHO-linked summaries of the process. Until then, the pandemic accord is best understood as partially built: adopted in principle, but still waiting on the pathogen-sharing rules that many governments consider essential. (sdg.iisd.org) (who.int)

Key numbers

• On May 20, 2025, WHO member states adopted a Pandemic Agreement, but left the hardest issue — pathogen access and benefit-sharing — for later talks.
• (who.int) The next formal step is the 79th World Health Assembly, where governments are due to consider the PABS annex.
• On May 20, 2025, the World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement after more than three years of negotiations that began during the COVID-19 era.
• The key date is May 20, 2025: that is when member states approved the agreement itself, but not the pathogen-sharing annex that many negotiators saw as one of the hardest operational questions.

What happens next

• On May 20, 2025, the World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement after more than three years of negotiations that began during the COVID-19 era.
• Countries want rapid access to samples and sequence data when a dangerous outbreak begins, while many lower- and middle-income states want firmer guarantees that they will also get vaccines, diagnostics and treatments developed from those materials.
• The key date is May 20, 2025: that is when member states approved the agreement itself, but not the pathogen-sharing annex that many negotiators saw as one of the hardest operational questions.

Sources

• who.int
• sdg.iisd.org
• hindustantimes.com
• who.int
• hhs.gov
• who.int

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