Prime Highlights
- Khokhar said the hybrid proposal merely preserves the status quo and disappoints developing countries.
- Malaysia’s Hamza called PABS the “litmus test for equity,” demanding mandatory — not optional — benefit-sharing from manufacturers.
Key Facts
- The PABS annex was deferred from the original Pandemic Agreement adoption due to unresolved disagreements among member states.
- The Pandemic Agreement was designed to prevent a repeat of COVID-19-era vaccine hoarding by wealthy nations.
Background
WHO member states resumed negotiations on Monday over an unresolved annex to the Pandemic Agreement, with developed nations offering a “hybrid” proposal to break the deadlock on pathogen access and benefit-sharing (PABS).
The hybrid plan mixes mandatory and voluntary measures for sharing pathogen information and any resulting vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics (VTDs). Pakistan’s First Secretary Adeel Mumtaz Khokhar confirmed that some developed countries had presented the proposal to developing nations, though he declined to name them.
The PABS system aims to ensure all countries can access medical countermeasures during a pandemic, a gap exposed during COVID-19, when wealthy nations stockpiled scarce vaccines.
Under the proposal, two categories of biological material would exist. One carries terms and conditions tied to the PABS system, while the other, including benefit-sharing obligations, carries none. Civil society alliance Third World Network noted that developed countries expect developing nations to share pathogen samples and data freely, while pushing benefit-sharing discussions to future talks between the WHO and pharmaceutical companies.
Khokhar called the proposal “essentially the status quo,” arguing it allows parties to share material as they please without meaningful reform. Malaysia’s Nurhafiza Hamza stressed that developing countries want mandatory benefit-sharing obligations, not a menu of options that apply to both member states and pharmaceutical companies during health emergencies.
Brazil’s Jean Karydakis expressed hope that an agreement could be reached in late May, when the World Health Assembly deadline falls for the annex.
