WHO advances pandemic rules at 79th WHA

WHO member states spent the week of May 18-23 in Geneva with pandemic preparedness still near the center of the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly agenda. WHO’s official assembly materials listed both implementation of the International Health Regulations and the open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the WHO Pandemic Agreement among the main emergency items before delegates. (who.int) The immediate point in Geneva was not to reopen the entire pandemic treaty text. (who.int) The WHO says the Pandemic Agreement itself was adopted on May 20, 2025, and that the next crucial step is negotiation of the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing, or PABS, annex, which must be adopted before the agreement can open for signature and ratification. (apps.who.int) Foreign Policy, in a May 22 article, said geopolitical tensions and U.S. political dysfunction were complicating the broader push for pandemic co-operation, pointing to disputes over vaccine equity, outbreak response and the reach of global health institutions. That assessment was published as WHO delegates continued procedural work in Geneva. (apps.who.int) ### If the pandemic agreement was already adopted in 2025, what was still being negotiated? Article 12 of the WHO Pandemic Agreement left one of the hardest pieces for later: the PABS system. (who.int) WHO says that system is meant to govern rapid sharing of pathogens with pandemic potential and fair sharing of benefits arising from their use, including products and other returns linked to public health need. A WHO report prepared for the 2026 assembly said the Intergovernmental Working Group had held six formal meetings, including two resumed sessions, and had made progress on the core components of the PABS system. (foreignpolicy.com) The same report said negotiators, at their resumed sixth meeting, also recognized that further talks were still needed to finalize the work. ### Why does pathogen-sharing remain so contentious? COVID-19 left a record of uneven access to vaccines, tests and treatments, and WHO’s pandemic-agreement page says the process was launched after countries saw major gaps and inequities in the world’s emergency response. (who.int) The agreement’s design tries to link faster pathogen sharing with more equitable access to benefits, a formula intended to address complaints from lower-income countries that they supplied samples but did not receive timely countermeasures. WHO’s own negotiating documents show why the issue remains difficult. The PABS text circulated to the assembly still contained bracketed alternatives on when countries would have to share pathogen materials, how that would interact with domestic law and international frameworks, and what obligations would apply. (apps.who.int) Brackets in WHO negotiating text indicate language that has not been agreed. ### What did the assembly itself do this week? The Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly ran from May 18 to May 23 in Geneva, and WHO’s agenda materials listed pandemic-agreement and International Health Regulations items for Committee A consideration alongside other health-emergency business. (who.int) WHO’s daily-update page for the assembly said speeches, news releases and updates were being issued throughout the week. WHO’s report to the assembly invited member states to consider a draft decision recommended by the working group. That is the procedural progress diplomats made in Geneva: keeping the annex negotiation alive inside the formal WHO process rather than declaring the talks finished or failed. (apps.who.int) ### Where does the trust problem show up? Foreign Policy said the larger obstacle is not whether governments can still meet and draft text, but whether they trust one another enough to honor future commitments in a crisis. The article tied that problem to wider geopolitical rivalry and to arguments over who controls data, vaccines and emergency authority. (who.int) WHO’s documents do not make that political judgment, but they do show that the most sensitive provisions are still unsettled after months of formal and informal meetings. That is an inference from the bracketed draft text and the working group’s statement that more negotiations are required. (apps.who.int) ### What happens next after Geneva? Saturday, May 23, is the scheduled close of the World Health Assembly, according to WHO’s journal for the meeting. WHO’s pandemic-agreement page says the full agreement will open for signature and ratification only after the PABS annex is adopted by a future World Health Assembly. (foreignpolicy.com) May 25-26 are the dates for the 159th session of the WHO Executive Board at headquarters in Geneva, the assembly journal said. Any further movement on the pandemic file will remain tied to that WHO timetable and to continued negotiations among member states on the unresolved annex text. (apps.who.int 1) (apps.who.int 2)