‘Lies’ and Entrenched Positions Undermine WHO Pandemic Negotiations

Misinformation, waning interest and entrenched positions threaten the World Health Organization’s (WHO) two pandemic-related negotiations aimed at strengthening future pandemic responses, according to a briefing given to the WHO executive board meeting on Monday. Draft agreements from the two processes – to establish a pandemic accord and to update the International Health Regulations (IHR) – are due to be presented to the World Health Assembly in May. But agreement will only be reached if member states are prepared to compromise and push back against “fake news, lies and conspiracy theories”, said WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. A global misinformation campaign is pushing the notion that the pandemic agreement and changes to the IHR will “cede sovereignty to WHO and give the WHO Secretariat the power to impose lockdowns or vaccine mandates on countries”, said Tedros. “We cannot allow this milestone in global health to be sabotaged by those who spread lies, either deliberately or unknowingly. We need your support to counter these lies by speaking up at home and telling your citizens that this agreement and an amended IHR will not, and cannot, cede sovereignty to WHO and that it belongs to the member states,” he insisted.