WHO chief urges deal on pathogen-sharing rules as pandemic talks resume
Negotiators are meeting in Geneva to complete the pandemic agreement’s pathogen-sharing annex. No final deal or new South African vaccine allocation has been announced.
World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has urged governments to conclude rules linking the sharing of potentially dangerous pathogens with fairer access to vaccines and other medical products, as a new negotiating round opened in Geneva.
In opening remarks published on Monday, 2 November, Tedros asked delegations to focus on workable compromises and public-health needs. He said the COVID-19 experience showed the consequences of separating access to pathogen information from access to lifesaving tools.
Agreement still needs its annex
The ninth meeting of the intergovernmental working group runs from 2 to 13 November. Its central task is negotiating the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing system, known as PABS, which would form an annex to the WHO Pandemic Agreement.
The agreement was adopted in May 2025, but adoption did not bring it into force. WHO says the full agreement can open for signature and ratification once the World Health Assembly adopts the annex. It would enter into force 30 days after 60 countries ratify it.
The current meeting notice says the outcome of the annex negotiations will go to the World Health Assembly in May 2027. Monday's opening remarks do not establish that negotiators have reached a deal.
Why the talks matter for South Africa
Tedros cited the mRNA Technology Transfer Programme in South Africa as an access initiative. The negotiations concern how sharing pathogen samples and genetic information can be linked to sharing the benefits arising from their use. No new South African vaccine allocation or funding commitment was announced in the remarks.
In a separate statement on Monday, pharmaceutical industry association IFPMA warned that proposed requirements for laboratories and databases could discourage participation if they became too burdensome. That is the industry's position on the draft arrangements, not an agreed finding of the negotiations.