WHO pandemic pact stalls over pathogen access

The World Health Organization’s pandemic agreement remains incomplete after member states again failed in May 2026 to finish the annex that would govern pathogen access and benefit-sharing. The agreement itself was adopted by the World Health Assembly on May 20, 2025, but it cannot open for signature until governments approve the Article 12 annex on the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system, known as PABS. WHO said on May 1 that countries needed more time to finalize that framework. ### Why is one annex holding up the whole pact? Article 12 sits at the center of the bargain governments have been trying to strike since the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries that detect a dangerous pathogen are being asked to share samples and sequence data quickly through a WHO-coordinated system. In return, they want clearer guarantees that vaccines, diagnostics and treatments developed from that material will not be monopolized by richer states. (who.int) The World Health Assembly anticipated that fight when it adopted the agreement in 2025 and created an intergovernmental working group to negotiate the annex separately. WHO’s Q&A says the pact cannot be opened for signature and ratification until that work is concluded. ### What are negotiators still arguing about? WHO’s March 28 and May 1 updates said member states made progress but could not close gaps on the PABS framework before this year’s assembly. (apps.who.int) The dispute is not over whether pathogens should be shared, but over the terms attached to that sharing: who gets priority access to resulting products, what benefits manufacturers should provide, and how binding those commitments should be during an emergency. (who.int) The 2025 assembly resolution points to the fault line. It says the PABS instrument must include benefit-sharing provisions in a public health emergency of international concern, including options regarding access to safe, quality and effective vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics. That language left the hardest distribution questions to the annex. ### Why does the delay matter now? WHO on May 16 determined that Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda constituted a public health emergency of international concern. (who.int) The agency said international spread had already been documented, with two confirmed cases reported in Kampala on May 15 and 16 after travel from Congo. As of May 16, WHO said eight laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases and 80 suspected deaths had been reported in Ituri province in Congo. (apps.who.int) The outbreak is not the same as a pandemic-scale event, but it underscores the practical question behind the stalled talks: how quickly countries share pathogens and how quickly they can expect access to countermeasures in return. WHO’s Africa office said health authorities in Uganda had activated surveillance, screening and response measures after a patient from Congo later died. (who.int) ### What are outside officials saying? Helen Clark, the former New Zealand prime minister and former co-chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, said recent Ebola and hantavirus outbreaks show the world is still not ready for the next pandemic. A statement published by the panel on May 1 said, “The world cannot wait” to prepare for new pandemic threats. Clark’s intervention adds pressure, but the next formal step remains procedural. (afro.who.int) WHO member states are expected to continue negotiations in the intergovernmental working group charged with completing the PABS annex, the final piece needed before the pandemic agreement can move to signature and ratification. (who.int) (theindependentpanel.org)