WHO pact stalls over pathogen sharing

The World Health Organization’s pandemic agreement still cannot move to ratification because governments have not finished the annex that sets the rules for pathogen sharing and the benefits tied to it. WHO said on May 1 that member states had made progress on the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing, or PABS, annex, but agreed more time was needed to finalize it in Geneva. The broader pandemic agreement was adopted by the World Health Assembly on May 20, 2025, after more than three years of negotiations. The unresolved annex has become the central test of whether the deal can deliver the equity promises that many lower-income countries sought after COVID-19. ### Why is one annex holding up the whole pact? The PABS annex covers the terms for sharing pathogens with pandemic potential, along with the benefits that come back from that sharing. WHO describes it as a key part of the pandemic agreement because it is meant to create a framework for faster access to samples and data while also improving access to vaccines, diagnostics and treatments. Until that mechanism is settled, the agreement’s most contested operational piece remains unfinished. (who.int) The May 20, 2025 adoption of the main agreement did not close that issue. WHO’s pandemic agreement page says the instrument was adopted by the World Health Assembly last year, but the annex on pathogen access and benefit sharing still required separate work. WHO said on May 1 that member states had “progressed work” on the annex and agreed additional time was needed to finalize it. (who.int) ### What are poorer countries asking for in practice? Lower-income countries have long argued that they should not be expected to share samples and genetic sequence data quickly if vaccines and treatments developed from that material remain concentrated in richer states. The PABS mechanism is intended to answer that dispute by linking access to pathogens with access to resulting health products. WHO and outside summaries of the agreement describe that exchange as a core part of the pact’s equity framework. (who.int) The dispute is not new, but it has become more urgent because the agreement is supposed to shape the global response to the next outbreak before that crisis arrives. WHO said the annex is meant to ensure a “better, more equitable” response to future pandemics. That phrasing reflects the agency’s position that the unfinished rules are not a side issue but part of how the agreement is supposed to work. (who.int) ### How does Ebola sharpen the argument now? On May 17, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus determined that the Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda constituted a public health emergency of international concern, but did not meet the criteria for a pandemic emergency under the International Health Regulations. WHO said that as of May 16 there were eight laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases and 80 suspected deaths reported in Ituri province in Congo, along with two laboratory-confirmed cases in Kampala, Uganda. (who.int) On May 20, Tedros said the risk of spread was high at the national and regional levels but low globally. CBS reported that WHO also pushed back on U.S. criticism, with officials saying some of the dispute could reflect a “misunderstanding.” That leaves WHO trying to manage an active cross-border Ebola event while member states are still arguing over the rules for sharing pathogens and the benefits that follow. (who.int) ### What happens next in Geneva? WHO said member states agreed to continue negotiations on the PABS annex through the intergovernmental process rather than declare the talks finished without a framework. ReliefWeb, reproducing WHO’s announcement, said discussions would resume after the decision to extend negotiations. The agreement itself was adopted in 2025, but WHO’s own materials indicate the pathogen-sharing system still has to be completed before the architecture is fully in place. (cbsnews.com) The next milestone is not a new treaty text but a finished annex. WHO, member states in Geneva, and the World Health Assembly process will determine when that draft is ready for governments to take the next formal step. (who.int)