Global deliberations on an international treaty that could unite the world in a strategy against another pandemic have been unsuccessful, with countries failing to reach consensus on the terms of a plan.
The discussions were to be a major focus at the World Health Assembly meeting that started this week in Geneva, aimed at correcting the inequities in access to vaccines and treatments between wealthier nations and poorer ones that became glaringly apparent during the Covid pandemic.
The New York Times reports that although much of the urgency has dissipated since the treaty negotiations began two years ago, public health experts are still acutely aware of the pandemic potential of emerging pathogens, threats like bird flu and mpox, and once-vanquished diseases like smallpox.
It was envisioned that negotiators would adopt the treaty next week. But cancelled meetings and fractious debates – sometimes over a single word – have stalled agreement on key sections, including equitable access to vaccines.
The negotiating body plans to ask for more time to continue the discussions.
“I’m still optimistic,” said Dr Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. “I think the continent and the world want this agreement.”
Once adopted, the treaty would set legally binding policies for member countries of the WHO on surveillance of pathogens, rapid sharing of outbreak data, and local manufacturing and supply chains for vaccines and treatments, among others.
Contrary to rhetoric from some politicians in the United States and Britain, it would not enable the WHO to dictate national policies on masking, or use armed troops to enforce lockdowns and vaccine mandates.
Kaseya said he thought next week’s deadline was “self-imposed”, and some public health experts have said it was far too ambitious – most treaties take many years – for such a complex endeavour.
But negotiators were scrambling to ratify the treaty before elections in the US and multiple European countries.
Lawrence Gostin, director of the WHO Centre on Global Health Law, who has helped to draft and negotiate the treaty, said that if Donald Trump were elected as American President, he could possibly torpedo the negotiations and even withdraw from the WHO.
During his tenure as President, Trump severed ties with the WHO and recently suggested that, if re-elected, he might shutter the White House pandemic preparedness office.
Among the biggest bones of contention in the draft treaty is a section called Pathogen Access and Benefits Sharing, under which countries would be required to swiftly share genetic sequences and samples of emerging pathogens. This information is crucial for rapid development of diagnostic tests, vaccines and treatments.
Low-income nations, including in Africa, want to be compensated for the information with quick and equitable access to the developed tests, vaccines and treatments.
They have also asked that pharmaceutical manufacturers share information that would allow local companies to manufacture the products at low cost.
“We don’t want to see Western countries coming to collect pathogens, going with pathogens, making medicines, making vaccines, without sending back to us these benefits,” Kaseya said.
Member countries have only ever agreed to one other health treaty, the 2003 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which strengthened control of the tobacco industry and decreased smoking rates in participating countries. But they were jolted by the Covid pandemic and the inequities it reinforced to embark on a second.
The countries are also working on bolstering the WHO’s International Health Regulations, which were last revised in 2005 and set detailed rules for countries to follow in the event of an outbreak that might breach borders.
In May 2021, an independent review of the global reaction to Covid-19 “found weak links at every point in the chain of preparedness and response”.
The pandemic also deepened mistrust between wealthier nations and poorer ones. By the end of 2021, more than 90% of people in some high-income countries had received two doses of Covid vaccines, compared with less than 2% in low-income nations. That lack of access to vaccines is thought to have caused more than 1m deaths in low-income nations.
The treaty would be an acknowledgment of sorts that an outbreak anywhere threatens the entire globe, and that providing vaccines and other resources is beneficial to everyone.
In December 2021, the WHO established a group of negotiators to develop a legally binding treaty enabling every country to prevent, detect and control epidemics, and allow for equitable allocation of vaccines and drugs.
More than two years into the negotiations, negotiators have agreed, at least in principle, on some sections of the draft.
But much of the good will generated during Covid has evaporated, and national interests have returned to the fore.
Countries like Switzerland and the US have been reluctant to accept terms that may affect the pharmaceutical industry; others, like Argentina, have fought against strict regulations on meat exports.
“It’s evident that people have very short memories,” said Dr Sharon Lewin, director of the Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics in Melbourne.
The New York Times article – Countries fail to agree on pandemic treaty (Restricted access)
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