WHO Pandemic Agreement
Treaty adopted at WHA78, May 2025; cannot enter force without the unresolved PABS annex; unsigned one year on.
Last refreshed: 12 May 2026
A pandemic treaty with no signatures one year after adoption — at what point does it become a failed governance project?
Timeline for WHO Pandemic Agreement
Remained inoperative one year after adoption at WHA78 because PABS negotiations were not concluded
Pandemics and Biosecurity: Pandemic Agreement still unsigned after one year- Has any country signed the WHO Pandemic Agreement?
- No. The Agreement was adopted at WHA78 in May 2025 but cannot be opened for signature without the PABS annex resolved. One year after adoption, no country has signed, and PABS negotiations were extended again in May 2026.Source: WHO IGWG
- What does the WHO Pandemic Agreement actually require countries to do?
- It requires equitable access to vaccines and medical countermeasures, faster outbreak detection and reporting, and co-ordination with WHO during Pandemic Emergency declarations. The PABS annex — still unresolved — would add pathogen sample-sharing and benefit-sharing obligations.Source: WHO
- Why did it take three years to negotiate the WHO Pandemic Agreement?
- The core dispute was PABS: high-income countries and pharmaceutical industry wanted voluntary distribution commitments; lower-income countries demanded mandatory dose-sharing and IP waivers. WHA78 adopted the Agreement text in 2025 and deferred PABS to a new body (IGWG), which has not yet resolved it.Source: WHO IGWG
Background
The WHO Pandemic Agreement is an international treaty adopted by the 78th World Health Assembly in May 2025, the culmination of three years of negotiations through the WHO Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB). It is the first legally binding global instrument specifically designed to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response — framed as the governance lesson of COVID-19, which exposed fragmented national responses, vaccine hoarding, and pathogen sample-sharing failures.
The Agreement covers equity obligations (equitable access to vaccines and medical countermeasures), the 100 Days Mission (from outbreak detection to vaccine authorisation), surveillance and early warning obligations for member states, and WHO's co-ordination authority. Its most contested provision — the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) annex — was not resolved before WHA78's adoption deadline and was deferred to the IGWG for post-adoption completion. The Agreement cannot be opened for signature or ratification without the PABS annex resolved. One year after adoption, no country has signed.
The resumed 6th IGWG session concluded on 1 May 2026 without resolving PABS, extending negotiations to a 7th session in July 2026. WHA79 (18-23 May 2026) is expected to authorise continued negotiations through mid-2027. The WHO R&D Blueprint pathogen family roadmaps — operational preparedness work — represent the parallel track that is moving; PABS remains the governance track that is not.
