UN Adopts Pandemic Preparedness Declaration 153-3, With U.S., Israel and Argentina Voting Against
UN adopts pandemic declaration over U.S. objections
The United Nations General Assembly adopted a political declaration on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response on Monday, October 12, by a vote of 153 to 3, with only the United States, Israel and Argentina voting against it. New Zealand and Paraguay abstained, according to UN News.
The declaration was supposed to be approved by consensus at a high-level meeting on September 25, but objections from the United States and a handful of other states blocked that path and pushed the text back to the full assembly for a recorded vote.
What is in the text
The declaration is political and non-binding. Its 64 clauses call for stronger national, regional and international cooperation guided by science, equity and respect for human rights, and it welcomes last year's adoption of the World Health Organization Pandemic Agreement. It also acknowledges that the world remains insufficiently prepared for the next pandemic and points to a $15 billion annual preparedness financing gap.
Chile's representative summed up the majority view, saying that "no country, no matter how big it might be or how prepared it might be, can alone address a threat that knows no borders."
Why Washington voted no
The U.S. delegate said the United States supports stronger health systems worldwide but could not back the declaration, objecting to references to sexual and reproductive health and what Washington called "harmful gender ideology," and raising concerns about references to the International Health Regulations and the Pandemic Agreement, which the delegate said seek to commit member states to agreements they are not party to.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the vote. "WHO welcomes this strong commitment by UN Member States to continue working together on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response," he said, urging countries to finish negotiations on the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) annex so the Pandemic Agreement can open for signature and enter into force.
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How this could hit the options market
Pandemic-preparedness names tend to move on exactly this kind of headline. Vaccine and diagnostics makers like MRNA, PFE and NVAX are the usual vehicles when preparedness funding and the WHO Pandemic Agreement come back into focus, and traders will watch for unusual call flow if the PABS negotiations accelerate toward signature. A 153-3 vote with the U.S. in the minority also keeps multilateral health funding debates in Washington in play, which can cut both ways for the group.
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