WHO pandemic treaty missed May deadline

WHO member states did not arrive in Geneva this week to finish a pandemic treaty from scratch. The World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement on May 20, 2025, and the dispute now is over the last major unfinished piece: an annex on Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing, or PABS. WHO said on May 1 that countries had agreed they needed more time to complete that annex, and the 79th World Health Assembly is running in Geneva from May 18 to May 23, 2026. ### If the agreement was already adopted, what exactly missed the May deadline? The May deadline applied to the PABS annex, not to the underlying agreement itself. WHO said the Intergovernmental Working Group, or IGWG, ended its resumed sixth meeting on May 1 without finalizing the annex and that the Assembly would be asked to continue the group’s work and submit the outcome to the next Assembly in May 2027, or earlier through a special World Health Assembly session in 2026. (who.int) WHO describes the annex as the “last piece of the puzzle” before countries can move to signature and ratification of the full agreement. Under the framework adopted in 2025, the agreement opens for signature and ratification only once the annex is adopted by the World Health Assembly. ### Why is the PABS annex so hard to finish? (who.int) The PABS system is meant to govern two linked issues: how countries share pathogens with pandemic potential and related sequence information, and how benefits from that sharing are distributed. WHO says those benefits include vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics, and that the system is supposed to work on an “equal footing” and according to public health need. (who.int) Brazilian Ambassador Tovar da Silva Nunes, an IGWG bureau co-chair, said on May 1 that finalizing the text required “technical and legal complexity” and that member states were “not there yet.” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “real progress was made” but that countries still needed urgency because “the next pandemic is a matter of when, not if.” (who.int) ### What would the annex do in practice? WHO says the annex is supposed to create a framework for rapid sharing of pathogen samples and genetic sequence data for public health purposes. In exchange, it is also supposed to set rules for fair and equitable access to the products that come out of that information, including vaccines, tests and treatments. (who.int) The broader pandemic agreement goes beyond sample-sharing. WHO says the 2025 text covers surveillance, a One Health approach, health systems, the workforce, research and development, local production capacity, public communication, international cooperation and financing. It also envisages a WHO-coordinated global supply chain and logistics network and a coordinating financial mechanism. (who.int) ### What is happening at this week’s assembly in Geneva? The 79th World Health Assembly opened on May 18 in Geneva and runs through May 23. WHO’s daily updates page lists assembly materials and proceedings, while the May 21 daily update covered other agenda items and separately noted discussion of the “Geneva Principles for One Health.” WHO’s assembly documentation includes agenda item A79/8 on the Intergovernmental Working Group on the WHO Pandemic Agreement. (who.int) That means the unfinished annex remains formally on the assembly’s agenda even though negotiators did not complete it before the meeting. ### What happens next, and when could this be finished? WHO said on May 1 that the IGWG’s seventh meeting is scheduled for July 6 to July 17, 2026. (who.int) WHO’s pandemic agreement page says the agreement will enter into force 30 days after 60 countries ratify it, but that ratification step cannot begin until the PABS annex is adopted. (apps.who.int) WHO also said member states could bring the annex back either to the next World Health Assembly in May 2027 or earlier at a special session in 2026. The assembly’s daily updates and governance pages are the formal record for any decision taken in Geneva this week. (who.int)