After 3.5 years and 13 meetings, WHO member-states have finalized a draft Pandemic Agreement.
The draft will be adopted at the World Health Assembly next month and aims to improve global pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.
Although less ambitious than the original plan, the agreement is still a major achievement considering differing interests between rich and developing nations.
Developed countries were reluctant to commit to sharing vaccines, treatments, and technology.
Developing countries were hesitant to share pathogen samples and genome data without guaranteed access to the resulting medical products.
A major win was an agreement on a system for pathogen access and benefit sharing, ensuring that countries sharing samples will also receive vaccines, tests, and treatments made from them.
Pharmaceutical companies will donate 10% of their production to WHO and sell another 10% at affordable prices.
COVID-19 exposed how vaccine distribution was unfair, with rich countries stockpiling while poorer nations waited.
Countries have now agreed that technology transfer will happen on “mutually agreed terms,” not just voluntary as companies preferred
The treaty encourages countries to help each other with sharing technology and know-how so that developing nations can produce their own vaccines.
The first universally agreed article in the treaty was to better protect healthcare workers during pandemics.
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