Concept

Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing

WHO Pandemic Agreement framework governing which countries can access pathogen samples and share pandemic-vaccine benefits.

Last refreshed: 7 May 2026

Key Question

Does PABS determine whether a future H5N1 pandemic vaccine reaches the Global South at all?

Common Questions

What is Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing and why does it matter for pandemics?: PABS is a governance framework being negotiated in the WHO Pandemic Agreement to ensure that countries sharing pathogen samples receive fair access to vaccines and other benefits. Without PABS, a country holding a novel pandemic pathogen sequence has no guaranteed return for sharing it, creating incentives to withhold data.Source: WHO IGWG
How does PABS affect the 100 Days Mission for H5N1?: If a pandemic H5N1 strain emerges from a lower-income country and PABS terms are unresolved, that country may delay sharing sequence data until benefit commitments are formalised. This would delay the antigen design step that the 100 Days Mission depends on, making the 100-day target meaningless regardless of vaccine platform readiness.Source: WHO IGWG / CEPI
What is the WHO Pandemic Agreement and where do PABS negotiations stand?: The WHO Pandemic Agreement is an international treaty under negotiation at WHO's Intergovernmental Working Group to govern pandemic preparedness and response. PABS is one of its most contested provisions; as of May 2026, negotiations remain ongoing with no final text agreed.Source: WHO IGWG

Background

Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) is a governance framework under negotiation within the WHO Pandemic Agreement, addressing the fundamental equity tension in global pandemic preparedness: lower-income countries that share pathogen samples with international surveillance networks often receive no share of the vaccines or therapeutics developed using those samples. The PABS framework attempts to formalise the terms under which countries grant access to pathogen genetic sequences and physical specimens, and under which pharmaceutical companies and governments reciprocally share the benefits, including vaccine doses, data, and manufacturing capacity. PABS draws on the Convention on Biological Diversity's Nagoya Protocol and the WHO Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP) Framework established after the 2009 H1N1 dispute.

PABS is a cross-cutting governance concern for the H5N1 vaccine trial and the WHO R&D Blueprint pathogen roadmaps. If a pandemic H5N1 strain emerges from a lower-income country and that country declines to share sequence data pending a PABS benefit commitment, the 100 Days Mission timeline collapses regardless of how advanced the Moderna mRNA Phase 3 data is. The WHO R&D Blueprint roadmaps published in Q1 2026 are also upstream of PABS; the Arenaviridae and Filovirus roadmaps require pathogen sample access from endemic countries to drive the R&D programmes they fund. PABS negotiations within the WHO Pandemic Agreement IGWG (Intergovernmental Working Group) represent the governance dimension that all the scientific preparedness infrastructure depends on: a pandemic response is only as fast as the political trust it runs on.

Source Material

Pathogen access and benefit-sharing — Wikipedia WHO Pandemic Agreement IGWG

How the World Sees Them

Global South

Lower-income countries, particularly those in Africa and Southeast Asia that share H5N1 and other pathogen sequences, view PABS as an existential equity issue: sharing without guaranteed returns repeatedly left them last in line during COVID-19 vaccine distribution.

High-income countries

The US, EU, and other major donors resist PABS provisions that would create mandatory benefit-sharing obligations on pharmaceutical companies, arguing that market incentives drive faster vaccine development than regulatory mandates.

Pharmaceutical industry

Vaccine manufacturers argue that mandatory royalty or dose-sharing tied to specific sequences would create intellectual-property uncertainty that reduces investment in pandemic preparedness programmes.