Recently, representatives from member countries of the World Health Organization (WHO) gathered in Geneva to negotiate and discuss the draft agreement on global prevention and response to the next wave of pandemic. Despite ongoing negotiations, there are still disagreements on various aspects of the agreement. Some countries and non-governmental organizations are concerned that granting excessive authority to the WHO could lead to potential issues. Even if an agreement is reached eventually, there is a lack of mechanisms for monitoring and enforcement, making it challenging to balance the interests of all parties.
During the meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) on pandemic prevention and response held in Geneva from February 17 to 21, representatives from WHO member countries deliberated on the crucial matters.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed gratitude for the collective efforts of member countries in making progress and highlighted the critical juncture at which the INB currently stands. He hopes to reach an agreement before the 78th World Health Assembly scheduled for May.
Tedros warned, “We know the next pandemic is a matter of when, not if,” emphasizing the shared responsibility of all countries in prevention, preparedness, and response to global health threats.
He also expressed regret over the United States’ withdrawal from the WHO and expressed hope for the country to rejoin.
According to an industry insider from mainland China, the upcoming agreement on the next pandemic primarily focuses on the sharing of vaccine and drug technologies among countries, implementing necessary risk control measures, surveillance, and rules for handling mass casualties. Developed nations currently disagree on freely sharing vaccine and drug technologies, so the WHO aims to advance other provisions before signing the agreement.
WHO’s website indicates that the organization will hold several informal meetings following the 13th session of the INB from April 7 to 11, aiming to finalize relevant agreements before the session concludes.
Dr. Lin Xiaoxu, a former virology researcher at the U.S. Army Research Institute, criticized WHO’s proposed pandemic response agreement as an attempt to expand its authority under the guise of borderless disease control. He raised concerns over the WHO defining what constitutes an international public health crisis and demanding comprehensive cooperation from member countries, potentially undermining sovereign nations’ ability to determine crisis severity and disclosure protocols.
Dr. Lin further argued that granting the WHO excessive authority could lead to the creation of an international super-government. While acknowledging the threats posed by multiple diseases, he pointed out that each disease varies in its risk to humanity, citing Ebola as a regional threat due to its high pathogenicity, making widespread transmission across continents challenging and cautioning against blanket measures.
Regarding the investigation into the origins of COVID-19, suspicions of a leakage from a Wuhan lab persist, with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) withholding cooperation. A WHO expert team sent to Wuhan concluded that the outbreak was unrelated to a laboratory leak, drawing skepticism from the international community.
Two days ago, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed support for the virus originating from a Wuhan lab leak, suggesting that an individual within the lab could have been infected, leading to the worldwide spread of the virus.
In December last year, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic concluded an investigation into COVID-19, releasing a 520-page report supporting the possibility of the virus leaking from a Chinese lab. The pandemic has claimed 1.1 million lives in the United States.
During the Geneva meeting, Tedros also highlighted the devastating consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, mentioning the 20 million lives lost and ongoing fatalities globally.
Due to the CCP’s concealment of the epidemic and related death figures, the death toll mentioned by Tedros does not encompass the true number of deaths in China from the pandemic.
Previously reported by Dajiyuan, during the 2022 pandemic, the officially announced death toll in China was significantly lower compared to Hong Kong and Taiwan, raising suspicions of underreporting.
From May 16, 2020, to January 28, 2022, in the midst of the global pandemic, the Chinese Health Commission reported only two deaths due to the epidemic, with an increase of 22,864 confirmed cases.