As we approach the final months of member-state negotiations over a World Health Organization Pandemic Accord, due to come before the World Health Assembly in May, the efforts to forge a consensus have witnessed modest progress. However, the original divide between developed and developing countries on key issues such as finance, access and benefit sharing, […] Continue reading ->
Days after government officials took a break from frenetic pandemic accord negotiations, news broke that European countries had destroyed at least 215 million unwanted COVID-19 vaccine doses valued at over €4 billion. The 19 countries surveyed dumped 0.7 doses per resident – with Estonia and Germany being the most wasteful, according to Politico, which broke […] Continue reading ->
A new Health Technology Access Pool (H-TAP), which aims to broaden the scope of IP and patent-sharing with low- and middle-income countries and a new African Union co-sponsored ‘manufacturing support platform’ were among the initiatives announced this week at the Second World Local Production forum in The Hague. The global forum, the second ever to […] Continue reading ->
Time-bound waivers of intellectual property (IP) rights and benefits for countries that share information about threatening pathogens are some of the key components of the draft pandemic accord  sent to World Health Organization (WHO) member states by the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) on Monday. These two issues have been major bones of contention in negotiations and […] Continue reading ->
It’s likely to be a mad sprint to submit amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) by the World Health Assembly (WHA) next May, according to the working group overseeing this process, which is meeting for the fifth time this week. Meanwhile, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) is expected to release a new draft of the pandemic […] Continue reading ->
German Ministers urge more investment in the Pandemic Fund and universal health coverage at a high-level pandemic preparedness meeting  Even if vaccines and medicines are developed at record speed to address the next ominous global pathogen, they cannot prevent a pandemic without strong health systems to deliver them, stressed politicians and health leaders at a […] Continue reading ->