World Health Organization members vote in favour of global pandemic agreement
FILE PHOTO: People wearing face protective masks watch the sunset from Griffith Observatory during a partial lockdown during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Los Angeles, California, U.S., December 7, 2020. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo
GENEVA - Members of the World Health Organization voted emphatically in favour of a potentially groundbreaking global treaty on improving pandemic preparedness at the World Health Assembly on Monday.
124 countries voted in favour, after Slovakia called for a vote on Monday, as its COVID-19 vaccine sceptic prime minister demanded that his country challenge the adoption of the agreement. No countries voted against, while 11 countries, including Poland, Israel, Italy, Russia, Slovakia and Iran abstained.
The draft accord, which addresses structural inequities about how drugs or vaccines and health tools are developed, will be formally adopted on Tuesday in a plenary session at the World Health Assembly in Geneva.
However, it will not formally come into effect until an annex on pathogen sharing is negotiated, which could take up to two years, after which states will have to ratify the accord. REUTERS
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