Common Questions

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. Under Article 31(2), the Agreement cannot be opened for signature or ratification without the PABS annex adopted. One year after adoption, no country has signed .

The 79th World Health Assembly (May 2026) formally deferred adoption of the PABS annex to WHA80 in May 2027, authorising continued IGWG negotiations through mid-2027 with IGWG7 scheduled for 6-17 July 2026 . The Bundibugyo outbreak has crystallised the equity tension the treaty was designed to resolve: DRC shares Bundibugyo sequence data in real time with no treaty-guaranteed vaccine access in return, while CEPI commits $62 million across vaccine platforms that DRC may not be first to receive . The WHO R&D Blueprint pathogen family roadmaps represent the parallel operational track that is moving; PABS remains the governance track that is not.

IGWG7 opened in Geneva on 6 July 2026 as scheduled, running to 17 July, the Deadline President Lula and Director-General Tedros set in a 15 June open letter to the G7, G20 and BRICS urging resolution of the deadlocked PABS annex. It is the seventh negotiating round on the annex since WHA78 adopted the Agreement without it in May 2025.

More questions

Why can't the WHO Pandemic Agreement enter into force?

Article 31(2) requires the PABS annex to be adopted before the Agreement can be opened for signature or ratification. One year after WHA78 adoption, PABS remains deadlocked and no country has signed.Source: WHO Pandemic Agreement, Article 31(2)

What happened to the WHO Pandemic Agreement at WHA79?

WHA79 (May 2026) deferred adoption of the PABS annex to WHA80 in May 2027 and authorised continued IGWG negotiations. IGWG7 is scheduled for 6-17 July 2026.Source: WHA79 resolution

Is DRC getting vaccine access for sharing Ebola sequences?

No. DRC is sharing Bundibugyo sequence data in real time under existing WHO mechanisms, but the PABS annex that would guarantee vaccine and therapeutic access in return remains deadlocked, meaning DRC has no treaty rights over resulting medical countermeasures.Source: WHO

Source Material

WHO Pandemic Agreement — IGWG / INB

How the World Sees Them

African Group

African states adopted the Agreement on the expectation PABS would follow; one year of non-delivery and the Bundibugyo sequence-sharing gap confirm their fear that without mandatory benefit-sharing, equity commitments are rhetorical.

United States

US engagement with the IGWG process under post-2024 federal governance has cooled on multilateral health commitments; the expanded Ebola entry ban signals a domestic-first posture at odds with the Agreement's equity framing.

WHO Secretariat

WHO has framed each IGWG extension as progress, but 'differences will be overcome' papers over a structural fault line between voluntary and mandatory benefit-sharing that has not moved since the INB phase.

Pharmaceutical industry

Industry bodies accepted the Agreement text on the understanding PABS stays voluntary; mandatory dose-sharing or IP waiver would materially alter the commercial calculus on pandemic vaccine investment.