The UK will not sign the Pandemic Treaty in its current form.

Britain is refusing to sign the World Health Organisation’s (“WHO”) Pandemic Accord or Pandemic Treaty because the country says it would have to give away a fifth of its vaccines, The Telegraph reported on Wednesday.

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According to a draft of the Pandemic Accord, richer countries, including the UK, would be asked to reserve 20% of tests, treatments and vaccines for WHO to distribute in poorer countries during emergencies.

The WHO Accord states the UN-run agency would get “real-time access” to 10 per cent of these products for free, and 10 per cent “at affordable prices.”

An unnamed source familiar with the Accord negotiations said the UK cannot accept these proposals in their current form and will only agree to the treaty if it is given a commitment that British-made vaccines are used for what the UK deems to be its own national interests.

“We will only support the adoption of the Accord and accept it on behalf of the UK, if it is firmly in the UK national interest and respects national sovereignty,” a spokesperson for Britain’s Department of Health and Social Care said in a statement to Reuters.

The head of WHO on Friday restated his hope that the vaccine impasse can be resolved as the talks entered their second week. Countries are due to finalise negotiations on the accord on 10 May, with a view to adopting it at the WHO’s annual meeting later this month.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week that countries need to agree to the accord within the deadline to help fight future pandemics, adding that countries who did not fully agree with the text to at least refrain from blocking consensus among WHO’s 194 member states, Reuters reported.

What Tedros the Terrorist meant by “refrain from blocking consensus” is not clear but perhaps he is referring to a consensus among INB9 voting members that would enable the Pandemic Treaty to be put forward for adoption at the 77thWorld Health Assembly.

Please note: WHO is attempting to have two instruments adopted at the next World Health Assembly meeting at the end of this month to implement its pandemic plans: Amendments to the International Health Regulations (“IHR”); and, Pandemic Accord, which has also been referred to as to as the Pandemic Treaty, Pandemic Agreement and WHO Convention Agreement + (“WHO CA+”). 

In December 2021, WHO established the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (“INB”) to draft and negotiate a pandemic agreement. 

From 18 March to 28 March, the ninth meeting of the INB (“INB9”) took place to negotiate the text of what is currently being called the Pandemic Accord. Because the negotiations over the proposed text of the Pandemic Accord were not going well, INB9 resumed on 29 April for 10 days.  Representatives of WHO’s 194 Member States were expected to attend. The last day of the session is today, 10 May 2024.

The new Pandemic Treaty needs a two-thirds majority for approval and, if and once adopted, will come into effect after 40 ratifications. The IHR amendments can be adopted by a simple majority and require countries to “opt out” within 10 months of their adoption if nations choose not to be bound by them.

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