Senior US official wants pandemic accord by May 2024, before elections

Negotiating a global pandemic agreement with 194 countries in a year’s time is an ambitious task, but a U.S. official involved in the negotiations said it’s important to wrap them up “sooner rather than later.” “Obviously, we don't want the process to feel rushed and incomplete. But there's something to be said about momentum, and already as you can imagine … people are tired of talking about this pandemic, let alone any pandemic,” Loyce Pace, assistant secretary in the Office of Global Affairs for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, said Thursday during a Devex event on the sidelines of the 76th World Health Assembly. While it’s ambitious, Pace said they’re committed to the timeline of May 2024 for the accord, saying it’s important not to “lose ground and energy, in particular political energy.” “If we're being honest, 2024 is another significant year for the United States, which is something to keep in mind,” she added. WHO member states are negotiating how to strengthen the world’s prevention, preparedness, and response to future pandemics through a potential global agreement and via amendments to the International Health Regulations, a legally binding treaty that identifies the obligations of countries and the World Health Organization during a global health emergency. Those two processes are due for consideration in May next year at the 77th World Health Assembly — less than six months before the U.S. presidential elections in November 2024. While not wanting to rush the process, Pace said stretching the timeline on a pandemic accord risks getting into some “tricky windows.” “Maybe not just for the U.S., but perhaps other countries. And if and as there's a change … in government or leadership, already the enthusiasm is limited,” she said. A ‘painful moment’ Negotiations on the accord center around equity and how to achieve it. All countries initially grappled with the lack of available tools to protect them from COVID-19. But when vaccines started to become available, high-income countries hoarded them, leaving many low- and middle-income countries to wait for access to the same products. The inequities led to calls to change the system, including through a potential new agreement. “Much of the world doesn't want to be without again, in the way that they were in 2021. … And we want that too,” Pace said, adding that what happened during the emergency phase of COVID-19 was a “painful moment for a lot of us” because it felt like “we were leaving our friends behind.” But a key question is how to achieve that. Countries have their own national interests. Some low- and middle-income countries, for example, want the accord to include text allowing them to benefit from sharing pathogen genomic data in exchange for access to medical products, such as treatments. But not everyone is on board with the idea. “That's the negotiation I think … what counts as … beneficial to folks and whether we all will feel satisfied that what is ultimately presented will actually be part of the solution,” Pace said. For all to see Civil society has raised questions regarding the transparency of the negotiations. Some of them sent a letter to U.S. officials in April saying they’re “surprised and disappointed” over a comment from the U.S. negotiator for the pandemic accord, Pamela Hamamoto, during negotiations on the accord that raised concerns about sharing a draft of the text to all stakeholders. Pace said they’ve been “honestly confused” over the notion that the U.S. opposes transparency in the negotiations, saying they push for briefings and stakeholder consultations. “I think what we have been cautious of is people seeing versions of documents that we can't even fully interpret,” she said but welcomed the fact that the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body, which is tasked to negotiate and draft an accord, is making available an advanced copy of the latest draft documents. “That's something that we do want for the community, especially if it's getting leaked anyway, right?” she said. “Let's just open the aperture on this stuff.”