Pandemic Treaty

About Pandemic Treaty

Negotiations for a WHO Pandemic Treaty, formally the WHO Pandemic Agreement, began in December 2021 after COVID 19 exposed weaknesses in global pandemic preparedness and response. The treaty aims to improve pathogen surveillance, ensure equitable access to vaccines and medical countermeasures, and strengthen health systems. Key contentious issues include intellectual property sharing, technology transfer to developing countries, pathogen access and benefit sharing, and One Health approaches. Negotiations took longer than originally planned, and later drafts softened some provisions on intellectual property. The World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement on 20 May 2025, with a number of countries abstaining; the United States, which was withdrawing from the WHO, did not take part. Proposals that manufacturers make a share of pandemic related products, around 20 percent, available to the WHO were debated by governments and industry. An annex on pathogen access and benefit sharing was left for further negotiation. Whether the agreement will meaningfully improve pandemic preparedness remains to be seen.