WHO Pandemic Agreement
WHA78.1
Source verified
What the document is
The first pandemic treaty and only the second binding health agreement in the history of the World Health Organization, adopted by consensus on May 20, 2025 after three years of negotiation. It covers surveillance, prevention, technology transfer, a global supply chain network, and a system for sharing pathogen samples in exchange for a share of the resulting vaccines and treatments.
Why it is in the report
The instruments that govern the next emergency are being written now, in public, by named delegations, with the text posted. Whatever anyone believes about the last emergency, the rulebook for the next one is a document you can read.
What this document does not say. As of this writing no nation has signed it and it is not in force. The agreement opens for signature only after a Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing annex is adopted, that annex was not finished at the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly in May 2026, and member states extended negotiations toward May 2027 or an earlier special session. Sixty ratifications would then be required. The text carries an explicit sovereignty provision stating that it gives the Organization no authority to direct national law, impose lockdowns, or mandate vaccination. The United States did not join, having begun withdrawal from the Organization in January 2025. Anyone claiming this treaty is currently binding on any country is wrong, and the fastest way to prove it is to read Article 33.
Pull it yourself
- Open the WHO pandemic agreement page and download the adopted text.
- Read the sovereignty article and the signature article for yourself.
- Check the current status of the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing annex before repeating anything about entry into force.
Cite this record
World Health Organization. WHO Pandemic Agreement. International agreement, 2025-05-20. https://www.who.int/health-topics/who-pandemic-agreement