WHO extends pandemic treaty talks

WHO member states agreed this month to give themselves another year to finish the last major unresolved piece of the Pandemic Agreement they adopted in 2025. The extension does not reopen the whole treaty. It applies to the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing annex, known as PABS, the section that sets the rules for how countries and companies share pathogen samples, genetic sequence data and the benefits that come back in return. WHO said on May 1 that governments had made progress but needed more time to complete the framework. The organization said the agreement cannot enter into force until that annex is finalized. ### If the Pandemic Agreement was already adopted, why are talks still going? The World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement on May 20, 2025, after more than three years of negotiations launched in response to COVID-19. But the resolution that adopted it also left one central mechanism unfinished: the annex on Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing. WHO says that annex is meant to govern how countries share pathogens with pandemic potential and how benefits from resulting products are distributed. (who.int) The May 1, 2026 WHO statement said member states agreed that “additional time was needed” to finalize that framework. WHO described the annex as a key part of the agreement and said its completion is necessary for a “better, more equitable” response to future pandemics. ### What exactly is the PABS fight about? (apps.who.int) The WHO negotiating texts frame the dispute around two linked questions: access and return. Countries want rapid, safe and transparent sharing of pathogen samples and sequence data when a dangerous outbreak emerges. They also want fair and equitable sharing of the benefits that come from that information, including vaccines, medicines, diagnostics, technology transfer or other support. (who.int) The political divide is familiar from the COVID-19 response. Developing countries have argued that they should not be expected to hand over samples quickly if richer countries and manufacturers can then turn those materials into products that poorer states cannot afford or cannot obtain in time. Reuters, in a report carried by The Straits Times, said disagreements remained deep between wealthy and developing countries over equitable access to pathogen data and developed products. (apps.who.int) ### Why does pathogen sharing matter so much? Pathogen samples and genetic sequence data are the raw material for outbreak tracking and product development. WHO says early sharing helps the world detect threats faster and supports work on vaccines, diagnostics and treatments. The negotiating text also ties that sharing to states’ sovereign rights over their genetic resources, which is one reason the issue has proven difficult to settle. (straitstimes.com) The PABS annex is therefore not a technical add-on. WHO’s own materials say the Pandemic Agreement’s entry into force depends on finalizing it. That means the broader accord adopted in 2025 remains incomplete in operational terms until governments agree on the exchange at its center. ### Did WHO describe the delay as a breakdown? (apps.who.int) WHO’s May 1 release did not describe the extension as a collapse. Instead, it said member states had “progressed work” and agreed more time was needed. The bureau of the working group said it was confident negotiations were moving in the right direction to finalize the annex. (who.int) That language matters because the organization is trying to preserve momentum around an accord it has already called the world’s first pandemic agreement. WHO says the 2025 adoption was designed to make the world safer and more equitable in future pandemics, but it has also acknowledged that the benefit-sharing system still has to be completed before the legal instrument can fully move ahead. (who.int) ### What happens next, and when? The WHO-linked notice on the extension says the intergovernmental working group will hold its seventh meeting from July 6 to July 17, 2026. WHO’s March 28 release had said talks would resume in late April ahead of consideration by the World Health Assembly in May, and the May 1 statement formalized the need for more negotiating time. (who.int) The new deadline runs to May 2027, according to the Reuters report carried by The Straits Times. That gives member states another year to settle the PABS annex that will determine how pathogen access, benefit sharing and obligations between countries and manufacturers are written into the final system. (straitstimes.com) (who.int)