World ‘unprepared’ for next pandemic as countries fail to agree on sharing information, tests and vaccines

Finalisation of pact governing global response to disease outbreaks delayed as talks on how to share benefits stall A key deadline to finalise a global pandemic treaty has been missed by negotiators, prompting warnings that the world remains unprepared for the next major disease outbreak. Countries have been trying to agree how they should share information on pathogens, such as bacteria or viruses, that could cause pandemics – and what access to any resulting vaccines, tests and treatments they should be guaranteed in return. That “pathogen access and benefit sharing” (Pabs) system must be in place before the World Health Organization’s pandemic agreement, governing how the world should respond to large-scale disease outbreaks in the future, can come into force. It was “deeply regrettable” that countries had failed to find agreement ahead of this month’s World Health Assembly in Geneva, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former president of Liberia, and Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand, who co-chaired the WHO’s Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, said in a statement. The panel recommended a pandemic agreement five years ago after reviewin