Berlin
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach does not see an end to international efforts for a pandemic agreement. The agreement of World Health Organisation (WHO) has not definitively failed, it needs more time, the SPD politician wrote on Platform X. The talks ended on Friday after two years without consensus.
“The negotiations so far have yielded many points on which we can now build,” Lauterbach argued. “Reason will prevail. Just like with climate protection, but it takes time.”
The 194 member states of the UN organization had originally set the goal of adopting the pact next week in Geneva, during the annual meeting of the WHO. The agreement was intended to prevent global chaos such as the corona pandemic and ensure that all countries are supplied with all necessary protective equipment, medicines and vaccines in a timely manner. However, diplomats from several countries and WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed optimism that work on the agreement could continue.
Aid organizations and poorer countries fear that the contract does not guarantee care for the most vulnerable. In richer countries, there was resistance from the pharmaceutical industry and from critics who wrongly claimed that the WHO wanted to decide whether to impose lockdowns or mandatory vaccinations in the event of a pandemic. There was disagreement about, among other things, the prevention and financing of pandemics. For example, it was controversial to what extent medicines or vaccines should be made available free or at low prices to poorer countries.
An announcement: This report is part of an automated service of the German Press Agency (dpa), which operates according to strict journalistic rules. It is not edited or controlled by the AZ online editors. Feel free to send questions and comments feedback@az-muenchen.de