25 countries Preparing for global pandemic treaty to the future

World leaders pressed Tuesday for a new international treaty to prepare for the next global pandemic and prevent the indecent fight for vaccines that hamper the response to Covid-19. The leaders of 25 countries, the European Union and the World Health Organization (WHO) sought to establish ground rules in writing to expedite and accelerate the reaction to future global outbreaks. The treaty would aim to ensure that information, pathogenic viruses, technology to deal with the pandemic and products such as vaccines are shared quickly and equitably among nations.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a press conference with countries pushing for a pandemic treaty to ensure that information, pathogenic viruses, technology to address the pandemic, and products such as vaccines are shared quickly and equitable between nations. Image Credit: Twitter / @ DrTedros

“The time to act is now. The world cannot afford to wait until the pandemic is over to start planning the next one,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference.

Without an internationally coordinated pandemic response plan, “we remain vulnerable,” he warned.

The call came in a joint article published in international newspapers on Tuesday, written by leaders from five continents.

The signatories included Angela Merkel of Germany, Boris Johnson of Britain, Emmanuel Macron of France, Moon Jae-in of South Korea, Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, Joko Widodo of Indonesia and Sebastian Pinera of Chile.

Commitment to the vaccine

“Nations must work together toward a new international treaty for pandemic preparedness and response,” the article said.

“We must be better prepared to effectively predict, prevent, detect, assess and respond to pandemics in a highly coordinated manner.

“Therefore, we are committed to ensuring universal and equitable access to safe, effective and affordable vaccines, drugs and diagnostics for this and future pandemics.”

The leaders of the major world powers, including the United States, China, Russia, and Japan, are not among the signatories so far.

But Tedros said the background music from Washington and Beijing was positive and insisted it was not a problem that they had not yet signed up.

Tedros hoped to have a resolution adjusted in time for the World Health Assembly in May. The assembly is the decision-making body of the WHO, attended once a year by delegations from the 194 member states of the UN health agency.

The push to bolster common efforts comes as the planet struggles to combine forces to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic that has killed nearly 2.8 million people worldwide and hit the global economy.

The spread of the virus has sparked an exchange of blame among capitals and accusations that rich nations have stockpiled vaccines.

According to an AFP In the tally, about 53 percent of the Covid-19 vaccine doses administered so far have been in high-income countries that account for 16 percent of the world’s population.

Only 0.1 percent has been administered in the 29 lowest-income countries, home to nine percent of the world’s population.

Building for future generations

The WHO said that while the existing 2005 International Health Regulations covered early alerts, travel measures, and information sharing on how to break an epidemic, the Covid-19 pandemic had exposed gaps such as supply chains, research, and development.

The joint article said the additional treaty should aim to “greatly enhance international cooperation” in alerting, data sharing and search systems to help track growing threats and the production of vaccines, drugs and protective equipment for fight diseases.

First proposed by European Council President Charles Michel at the United Nations in December, the idea of ​​a treaty has since been endorsed by the EU and G7 countries.

“Now is the time to come together as a global community to build a pandemic defense for future generations that extends well beyond the current crisis,” EU chief Michel said at the joint press conference with Tedros.

The lobby group for the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations said the importance of incentives to develop tests, treatments and vaccines should be reflected in the treaty.

“The biopharmaceutical industry and its supply chain is part of the solution for future pandemics and therefore must play a role in shaping an international treaty against a pandemic,” said IFPMA Director Thomas Cueni in a statement.