The World Health Organization announced Friday that member nations have extended negotiations on critical pathogen-sharing guidelines, delaying implementation of a pandemic treaty that was approved last year.
The ongoing discussions center on establishing a framework that would require nations to rapidly share disease samples that could trigger pandemics, while guaranteeing those countries receive equitable access to vaccines, testing, and medical treatments developed from their contributions.
This framework, called the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing annex, establishes protocols for how nations exchange pathogen data and specimens that threaten public health, while ensuring fair distribution of resulting medical interventions.
The pandemic agreement cannot take effect until nations reach consensus on these pathogen-sharing rules. The accord was designed to improve global readiness and response capabilities for future health emergencies following lessons learned from the COVID-19 crisis.
The World Health Assembly approved the Pandemic Agreement in May 2025 as part of efforts to bolster worldwide prevention, preparedness, and response strategies for upcoming pandemic threats.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged advances in the talks but emphasized the need for continued urgent collaboration, stating the next pandemic was “a matter of when, not if.”
Negotiators will present their findings to the World Health Assembly later this month. The assembly will be requested to authorize continued talks, with any final agreement to be submitted at the next assembly in May 2027 or potentially at a special session in 2026.
Countries had previously agreed to postpone this particular section when they adopted the primary treaty last year following difficult negotiations.
