The world will adopt its first agreement on pandemics: what does the text contain?

Details of a central mechanism of the agreement must still be negotiated by May 2026 before the treaty can be ratified. Here are the main points of the agreement, which has 35 articles.

Its objective is "to prevent, prepare for and respond to pandemics", while respecting the "sovereign right" of States.

The document is guided by the principles of fairness, solidarity and transparency and emphasizes that public health decisions in the face of pandemics must be based on "the best available scientific and factual data."

Countries must strengthen pandemic prevention and surveillance capacities.

These include strengthening the prevention of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, “early detection and control measures,” laboratory biological risk management, and routine vaccination.

It is also about preventing the transmission of infectious diseases between animals and humans.

Local and sustainable production

Countries are called upon to take measures to ensure "a more equitable geographical distribution and rapid scale-up of global production of pandemic-related health products" and to make access to such products "more sustainable, rapid and equitable" and reduce the potential gap between supply and demand in the event of a pandemic emergency.

Technology transfer for the production of pandemic-related health products, particularly for developing countries, was one of the most discussed issues. Some countries—including producers of these products—rejected any obligation to transfer technology. The final text opted for the following formula: "mutually agreed terms."

The objective is to promote technology transfer through a range of measures such as licensing, capacity building, incentives and conditions attached to research and development, procurement or financing, and regulatory policy measures.

It also involves promoting the transfer of technologies and knowledge to recognized regional or global centers, coordinated by the WHO, or other mechanisms or networks.

The text provides for the creation of a "Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing System" (PABS), which refers to health products resulting from their use, such as vaccines and tests. The objective is to ensure rapid and systematic sharing of information on the emergence of pathogens with the potential to trigger a pandemic.

And each pharmaceutical company that agrees to participate in the mechanism will have to, in the event of a pandemic, make available to the WHO "rapid access to a targeted percentage of 20% of its real-time production of safe vaccines, treatments and diagnostic products", including a "minimum of 10%" as a donation and the remaining percentage "at an affordable price".

Any company can participate, even if its headquarters are in a country that is not a member of the WHO.

The practical details of the mechanism still need to be negotiated and detailed in an annex by May 2026. To achieve this, an intergovernmental negotiating group must be established and begin meeting before July 15. Once the annex is finalized and approved, the agreement can be ratified by countries. Sixty ratifications are required for the treaty to enter into force.

The agreement also provides for the establishment of a "Global Supply Chain and Logistics Network" (GSCL Network) to facilitate "equitable and timely access to pandemic-related health products […] during public health emergencies of international concern, including pandemic emergencies, taking into account in particular the needs in humanitarian crisis situations."