WHO members adopt a 'pandemic agreement' born out of the disjointed
global COVID response
[May 20, 2025]
By JAMEY KEATEN
GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization's member countries on
Tuesday approved an agreement to better prevent, prepare for and respond
to future pandemics in the wake of the devastation wrought by the
coronavirus.
Sustained applause echoed in a Geneva hall hosting the WHO’s annual
assembly as the measure — debated and devised over three years — passed
without opposition.
The treaty guarantees that countries which share virus samples will
receive tests, medicines and vaccines. Up to 20% of such products would
be given to the WHO to ensure poorer countries have some access to them
when the next pandemic hits.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has touted the agreement
as “historic” and a sign of multilateralism at a time when many
countries are putting national interests ahead of shared values and
cooperation.
Dr. Esperance Luvindao, Namibia’s health minister and the chair of a
committee that paved the way for Tuesday’s adoption, said that the
COVID-19 pandemic inflicted huge costs “on lives, livelihoods and
economies.”
"We — as sovereign states — have resolved to join hands, as one world
together, so we can protect our children, elders, frontline health
workers and all others from the next pandemic," Luvindao added. "It is
our duty and responsibility to humanity.”
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Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health
Organization (WHO), applauds as member countries approve an
agreement to combat future pandemics, during the 78th World Health
Assembly (WHA78) at the European headquarters of the United Nations
in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (Magali Girardin/Keystone
via AP)
 The treaty’s effectiveness will face
doubts because the United States — which poured billions into speedy
work by pharmaceutical companies to develop COVID-19 vaccines — is
sitting out, and because countries face no penalties if they ignore
it, a common issue in international law.
The U.S., traditionally the top donor to the U.N. health agency, was
not part of the final stages of the agreement process after the
Trump administration announced a U.S. pullout from the WHO and
funding to the agency in January.
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