May 1 (Reuters) – World Health Organization member states said on Friday they had extended talks on pathogen-sharing rules, casting doubt on when a pandemic treaty adopted last year can come into effect.
The talks are focused on a system intended to ensure countries quickly share pathogens that could cause pandemics while receiving fair access to vaccines, tests and treatments that result from their use.
Known as the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) annex, it governs how countries share data and samples of pathogens that pose public health risks and seeks to ensure equitable access to vaccines and treatments.
Without agreement on PABS, the pandemic accord, which is intended to help the world respond more effectively to future pandemics in the wake of COVID-19, cannot come into effect.
The World Health Assembly adopted the Pandemic Agreement in May 2025 to strengthen global prevention, preparedness and response to future pandemics.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said progress had been made but urged countries to keep working with urgency, saying the next pandemic was “a matter of when, not if.”
The outcome will be presented to the World Health Assembly later in May.
The assembly will be asked to allow negotiations to continue, with any agreement to be submitted to the next assembly in May 2027 or earlier at a special session in 2026.
Member states agreed to set aside this section when adopting the main treaty last year after negotiations proved contentious.
(Reporting by Padmanabhan Ananthan in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
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