World Health Organization (WHO) member countries on Tuesday approved the adoption of its pandemic treaty.
The agreement was adopted at the 78th session of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.
“The world is safer today thanks to the leadership, collaboration and commitment of our Member States to adopt the historic WHO Pandemic Agreement,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, according to NPR.
“The Agreement is a victory for public health, science and multilateral action. It will ensure we, collectively, can better protect the world from future pandemic threats. It is also a recognition by the international community that our citizens, societies and economies must not be left vulnerable to again suffer losses like those endured during COVID-19,” he added.
Notably, the United States did not attend the meeting because of President Trump’s intent to withdraw from WHO membership.
WATCH:
The WHO Pandemic Treaty has been adopted at 78th session of the World Health Assembly Geneva Switzerland. And none of us voted for this.
— James Melville 🚜 (@JamesMelville) May 20, 2025
Per NPR:
The 30-page treaty lays out a framework for preventing pandemics from even starting — by boosting surveillance of animals to lower risk of viruses spilling over to humans — as well as responding more effectively once pandemics do come, for example by providing protective equipment to health care workers and aligning regulatory systems to help expand access to treatments.
Yet the agreement’s ultimate impact remains unclear, especially since it lacks enforcement mechanisms and robust funding. President Trump’s planned withdrawal from WHO means the U.S. — which helped draft the treaty and is historically the biggest WHO funder — is not part of it, which could further weaken its power.
Additionally, countries kicked the can on sorting out the most contentious details. Over the next year, delegates must decide how wealthy countries will share tests, vaccines, treatments — and the technology behind them — with lower income countries in exchange for the data required to develop those interventions, including genetic sequencing of pathogens. The agreement outlines a goal of having pharmaceutical companies donate or make more affordable 20% of the pandemic products they produce.
According to CitizenGO, numerous countries have not signed the agreement.
“These are the countries that, based on available information since the beginning of the negotiations, initially refused to sign. However, many of them have undergone government changes during these years of talks, so their positions may have shifted,” CitizenGO wrote.
“These countries have not yet signed, and official signatures on the treaty are expected at the conclusion of the final negotiation round in 2026. There is still much to be done and pressure to be applied both on these nations and on others,” it added.
IMPORTANT:
These are the countries that, based on available information since the beginning of the negotiations, initially refused to sign. However, many of them have undergone government changes during these years of talks, so their positions may have shifted.
These countries…
— CitizenGO (@CitizenGO) May 21, 2025
Full list:
❌ Not signed:
🇺🇸United States
🇨🇳 China
🇷🇺 Russia
🇮🇳 India
🇧🇷 Brazil
🇿🇦 South Africa
🇳🇬 Nigeria
🇪🇬 Egypt
🇲🇽 Mexico
🇦🇷 Argentina
🇮🇩 Indonesia
🇵🇰 Pakistan
🇧🇩 Bangladesh
🇹🇷 Turkey
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia
🇦🇪 UAE
🇰🇼 Kuwait
🇶🇦 Qatar
🇴🇲 Oman
🇧🇭 Bahrain
🇮🇱 Israel
Why? → Concerns about sovereignty, control & freedom.
“They passed it. But not the way they wanted. The WHO Pandemic Treaty has just been adopted —It was pushed through late at night, in secret, without debate,” CitizenGO Africa wrote.
“They call it ‘historic.’ But thanks to your support, the truth is: it’s been watered down,” it added.
WATCH:
They passed it.
But not the way they wanted.
The WHO Pandemic Treaty has just been adopted —It was pushed through late at night, in secret, without debate.
They call it “historic.”But thanks to your support, the truth is: it’s been watered down.
Watch: pic.twitter.com/tzmo5Hg7P0
— CitizenGO Africa (@CitizenGOAfrica) May 20, 2025
“Like many legacy institutions, the WHO has become mired in bureaucratic bloat, entrenched paradigms, conflicts of interest, and international power politics. While the United States has provided the lion’s share of the organization’s funding historically, other countries such as China have exerted undue influence over its operations in ways that serve their own interests and not particularly the interests of the global public,” U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said.
“Global cooperation on health is still critically important to @POTUS and myself, but it isn’t working very well under the WHO as the failures of the COVID era demonstrate. I urge the world’s health ministers and the WHO to take our withdrawal from the organization as a wake-up call,” he added.
WATCH:
Like many legacy institutions, the WHO has become mired in bureaucratic bloat, entrenched paradigms, conflicts of interest, and international power politics. While the United States has provided the lion’s share of the organization’s funding historically, other countries such as… pic.twitter.com/VvWbVBkb6M
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) May 20, 2025
From the Associated Press:
The United States — whose contributions to WHO have been halted — had been set to contribute more than $700 million to the current 2024-2025 budget, while China was poised to chip in more than $200 million, according to the U.N. health agency’s website.
French President Emmanuel Macron said “some believe they can do without science,” an apparent allusion to U.S. funding cuts for research.
“Not only will that harm the health of us all, but it’s first of all the population of those who are taking a step back, in a way, who will be in real danger in the face of emerging pathogens that they wouldn’t see coming,” Macron told the assembly by video.
The treaty’s effectiveness will also face doubts because the United States — which poured billions into speedy work by pharmaceutical companies to develop COVID-19 vaccines — is not taking part, and because countries face no penalties if they ignore it.
Even though it has been adopted, some hard work remains.
Countries hope to adopt by next year’s assembly an annex to the treaty that would guarantee that countries that share virus samples will receive tests, medicines and vaccines used to fight pandemics, under what’s called the Pathogen Access and Benefits Sharing system.
Read the pandemic treaty HERE.
