Climate & Health

Pandemic treaty 'zero draft' gives WHO 20% share of responsibility

The rationale for the World Health Organization's proposed pandemic treaty is to erase the "gross inequities" between rich and poor that's been a scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

, and John Heilprin

February 1, 2023 . 12:54 PM

2 min read

The World Health Organization issued its eagerly awaited "zero draft" proposal for a pandemic treaty (AN/Fusion Medical Animation/Unsplash)

GENEVA (AN) — The U.N. health agency wants to put itself in charge of handing out a fifth of all the vaccines and other products the world needs in a pandemic.

The rationale behind the World Health Organization's "zero draft proposal" for an international pandemic treaty is to erase what it calls the "gross inequities" between rich and poor that's been a scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic.

WHO's proposal on Wednesday would grant to itself "real-time access" to 20% of the world's production of all safe and effective pandemic-related products. Those include vaccines, oxygen, personal protective gear, diagnostics and therapeutics.