The latest draft of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) pandemic agreement, which was sent out to member states on Wednesday (15 May), shows just how far the talks still have to go.
Health Policy Watch obtained a copy of the draft agreement, which we are sharing on our paywall-free site:
READ: Latest Pandemic Agreement Draft, reflecting progress up to 10 May
Around a third of the text is still white, indicating either that it has not been agreed on or not even discussed. According to a stakeholder briefing, there were some 300 paragraphs to negotiate on at the last meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB).
However, some of the most significant articles are awash with yellow and green highlights, indicating progress.
Yellow means the text has been agreed to in a working group. Green means it has been agreed to in the plenary of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB).
Chapter 1 (Articles 1-3), dealing with aims and definitions, is largely white text but unlikely to take much time to reach agreement on.
Chapter 2 (Articles 4-20) is operation room of the agreement, dealing with equity throughout the chain of pandemic prevention, preparedness and response
One Health (Article 5) is mostly yellow.
Article 11 (technology transfer and know how) is also largely yellow, but there are a number of brackets around phrases such as “voluntary”.
The controversial Article 12 on pathogen access and benefit-sharing (PABS) is a mass of yellow and green.
A new addition to the PABS Article, which is neither yellow or green, is the proposal that, during a “public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) or pandemic emergency”, manufacturers party to the PABS system “grant to WHO royalty free, non-exclusive manufacturing licences, that can be sub-licensed to manufacturers in developing countries for the production of vaccine therapeutics and/or diagnostics”.