WHO member countries are struggling for pandemic agreements
Monday, April 29, 12:43 p.m.: The 194 member countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) have been fighting for a planned pandemic agreement in Geneva since Monday in a final round of negotiations. It is intended to prevent global chaos like the corona pandemic and ensure that all countries have equal opportunities to obtain medicines and vaccines. The agreement is expected to be adopted at the WHO annual meeting at the end of May/beginning of June. The negotiations are scheduled to last twelve days.
“The level of ambition has already been reduced,” said a diplomat in Geneva. The latest draft text has been shortened to 23 pages and contains many phrases that restrict obligations, such as “preferably” or “where appropriate”. Governments should strengthen surveillance capacities in the health system “where appropriate”. Or: technology transfer for the production of medicines or vaccines should take place “under mutually agreed conditions”.
Nevertheless, according to the diplomat, the agreement offers “added value”. “Having nothing at all would be worse,” he said. The draft stipulates that the WHO receives 20 percent of the pandemic products produced free of charge or can purchase them cheaply for distribution in poorer countries. It is also intended to coordinate a supply chain network. In the event of a pandemic, this is intended to ensure that every country quickly receives the material it needs to protect people and contain the spread of a disease. During the corona pandemic, countries imposed export bans that were harshly criticized. This also included Germany, which temporarily did not allow protective clothing across its borders.
More than 20 organizations that advocate for fair participation in poorer countries criticized the draft. It does not guarantee that all countries will quickly receive pandemic products or financing for their health systems, but it does contain obligations to monitor health that are difficult to fulfill. If the agreement is adopted at the WHO meeting, it would come into force once 60 countries have ratified it. The provisions would only apply to countries that have ratified the agreement. The text explicitly states that the WHO can never impose lockdowns, travel restrictions or introduce compulsory vaccinations.
WHO: In der CoronaDuring the pandemic, antibiotics were prescribed too often
Friday, April 26, 6:35 p.m.: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), patients were prescribed antibiotics far too often during the corona pandemic. According to their information, this could have exacerbated the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the WHO reported on Friday in Geneva. What this means is that bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi become resistant to medications, which can be life-threatening for those affected.
Only eight percent of those infected with corona in hospitals also had bacterial infections that could be treated with antibiotics. But on average around the world, 75 percent received this medication “in case it helps,” as the WHO wrote. More urgently needs to be done to use antibiotics correctly and only where they can be beneficial. In the event of a corona infection, they would have done nothing for the patients.
The WHO evaluated the anonymized data of around 450,000 people for the analysis. These were people who were in hospitals with a corona infection in 65 countries between January 2020 and March 2023.
Higher loss: Vaccine manufacturer Curevac wants to become more efficient
3:13 p.m.: The Tübingen biotech company Curevac wants to become more efficient this year through savings and job cuts. The company announced on Wednesday in Tübingen that pandemic-related infrastructure that is no longer necessary will be dismantled. In March it was announced that 150 jobs would be cut.
Last year, Curevac recorded a loss before taxes of a good 260 million euros (2022: around 249 million euros). Sales fell to 53.8 million euros in the same period. That is 13.6 million euros less than in the previous year. This decline is primarily due to lower sales from two collaborations, it said.
In the wake of the corona pandemic, the biotech company was initially considered one of the hopes for the development of a vaccine against the virus. But due to its comparatively low effectiveness, Curevac withdrew its first vaccine candidate from the approval process.
The vaccine manufacturer is currently working on the development of a new second-generation corona vaccine. The company is also working on vaccines for cancer therapy. However, a product is not yet on the market.
Never again Corona-Chaos: WHO states finally negotiate pandemic agreements
Wednesday, April 24th, 6:11 a.m.: After the dire consequences of the Corona crisis, there was agreement: the global community never wanted to be caught off guard by a pandemic again. Negotiations on an international pandemic agreement began two years ago and were finally brought to a conclusion in the ninth round of negotiations at the end of last month. But there is still disagreement on many points.
Starting Monday next week, the 194 member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) want to negotiate for two more weeks so that the pandemic agreement can finally be decided at the World Health Assembly, the WHO’s highest decision-making body, which begins at the end of May. An overview of the negotiations:
How have the negotiations been going so far?
When negotiations on the agreement began two years ago, the corona pandemic was not yet over. But over time, awareness of how much damage a pandemic can do to society and the economy apparently faded. Instead of bringing the negotiations to a conclusion this March, the states ballooned the draft agreement from 29 to more than 100 pages with their requests for changes and additions.
European countries, Japan and the US are pushing for greater oversight of pandemic management. They also demand clear wording that all states must share samples of emerging pathogens, so-called pathogens, and the data about them.
The so-called Equal Opportunities Group with countries such as India, Bangladesh and Mexico as well as a group of African countries want to ensure that in the next pandemic, emerging and developing countries do not again have significantly worse access to tests, medicines and vaccines than the rich industrialized countries.
How does it go from here?
A tenth round of negotiations has been scheduled for April 29th to May 10th. According to a document seen by the AFP news agency, the basis for negotiations is a new 23-page draft. It contains a commitment by the contracting states to the equitable distribution of tests, medicines and vaccines around the world. To this end, according to the draft, they undertake to increase the production of corresponding goods worldwide and not just in individual regions of the world.
The draft also takes into account the disinformation and conspiracy myths that accompanied the negotiations on the pandemic agreement. The WHO has repeatedly been accused of wanting to take control of the health policy of its member states.
The draft therefore contains a specific paragraph that makes it clear that the agreement does not give the WHO any authority to change national laws, “impose vaccination requirements (…) or put lockdowns into effect”.
What are the sticking points of the negotiations?
The main points of contention in the negotiations revolve around access to and distribution of intelligence and resources to contain a pandemic. The draft agreement therefore provides for a so-called WHO system for access to pathogens and sharing support (Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing System), or PABS for short.
This system is intended to ensure “quick, efficient, predictable and fair access to health products related to the pandemic”. According to the draft, the division of these goods should take place “quickly, systematically and within a reasonable period of time”.
Specifically, it is planned that in times of pandemic the WHO will receive “real-time access” to 20 percent of these urgently needed goods such as tests and vaccinations – ten percent as a donation and ten percent at affordable prices. The WHO could then distribute these goods where it believes they are needed most to contain the pandemic.
According to the new draft, the exact conditions, deadlines and other practical questions should not be set out in the pandemic agreement, but rather “in more detail in a legally binding” text that can be implemented “by May 31, 2026 at the latest”. By allowing two more years to discuss the details, the draft authors hope to at least finalize the framework agreement at the World Health Assembly from May 27th to June 1st.
You can read older news about the corona pandemic on the next pages.
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