United Nations member states meet in New York on Monday and Tuesday (26-27 June) to discuss the latest draft of the Political Declaration on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response, ahead of the high-level meeting in September.

The 58-page behemoth compilation draft sent to member states this week is a mass of red, indicating country additions and edits to the zero draft.

Notable are new clauses on the impact of COVID-19, and the inclusion of more references to climate change and the sustainable development goals.

But the mass of contradictory red text on a number of contentious issues, including research and development for vaccines and medicines, indicates that the negotiations have some way to go before consensus is achieved.

Multilateral mechanisms

More attention is also directed a developing “adequately funded multilateral response mechanisms” to address future pandemics.

One clause calls for the UN to “establish, as soon as possible, a mechanism for a coordinated and powerful response in the event of future pandemics”.

Norway wants the WHO to host “an accountable multi-stakeholder coordination mechanism for pandemic-related medical countermeasures” that is “ready when pandemic emergencies hit” but can be scaled back to “essential operational coordination capacity in inter-pandemic periods”.

The EU wants an “interim coordination mechanism for medical countermeasures” that builds on the ACT-Accelerator model to feed into the pandemic accord negotiations. This “will be the legal underpinning for a permanent medical countermeasures platform, and will be adjusted to the outcomes” of those negotiations.

In a new section on global governance, Costa Rica, Canada, Australia, New Zealand (CANZ) and the EU all call for independent monitoring of countries’ implementation of pandemic governance obligations.

In another new section headed “scientific research and development”, the EU wants a reference to “promoting” innovative incentives removed, along with the deletion of R&D “financing mechanisms” for vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics and other health technologies.

Meanwhile, the US encourages the development of “voluntary patent pools” to develop pandemic products. 

Tight process

June and July are crunch times for the political declaration negotiations. The deadline for the revised text after negotiations on 26-27 June is 30 June.

The third reading of the declaration is set for 5-6 July, with the final reading on 24-25 July.

On 26 July, the final text will be placed under “silence procedure”. This refers to the period at the end of negotiations when tentative agreement has been reached, but delegations may need to get final approval from their governments. 

The final resolution will be debated at the high-level meeting on 20 September.

Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons.