Hours before the scheduled deadline on May 10th to conclude the negotiations towards a Pandemic Agreement, unable to find consensus WHO member states struggled to find a way to extend the negotiations.
Diplomatic sources told us that countries were divided on devising a way ahead to continue the discussions. While some preferred to take “sufficient” time conclude these crucial talks carefully, groups of countries are keen on having an agreement “at any cost” ahead of the World Health Assembly that begins on May 27th.
Countries have now decided to continue to work till the last mile in an attempt to reach consensus. How they will do so, is less clear at this point.
In this story we describe the dynamics and events that unfolded at the close of the meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body on May 10.