WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus urged countries to sign a pandemic treaty to prepare for “Disease X,” a potential future virus that could be 20 times deadlier than COVID-19.
He emphasized the need for global cooperation to address future pandemics, citing the importance of an early-warning system, supply chain organization, and research and development for testing drugs.
Ghebreyesus said, “There are things that are unknown that may happen, and anything happening is a matter of when, not if, so we need to have a placeholder for that, for the diseases we don’t know.”
WHO calls for world pandemic treaty to prepare for deadly 'Disease X' pic.twitter.com/Bqhq1JlOKl
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“We lost many people [during COVID] because we couldn’t manage them,” he continued.
“They could have been saved, but there was no space. There was not enough oxygen. So how can you have a system that can expand when the need comes?” asked Ghebreyesus.
“The pandemic agreement can bring all the experience, all the challenges that we have faced and all the solutions into one,” said the WHO executive.
“That agreement can help us to prepare for the future in a better way,” advised Ghebreyesus.
“This is a common global interest, and very narrow national interests should not come into the way,” warned Ghebreyesus.
“It’s better to anticipate something that may happen because it has happened in our history many times, and prepare for it. We should not face things unprepared; we can prepare for some unknown things, as well,” he continued.
World leaders have been negotiating this treaty, aiming to enhance international cooperation in various areas.
Ghebreyesus claimed, “The main goal of this treaty would be to foster an all-of-government and all-of-society approach, strengthening national, regional and global capacities and resilience to future pandemics.”
While the Biden administration has been involved in negotiations, some critics, particularly within the GOP, have expressed concerns about potential loss of sovereignty to the WHO.
Rep. Tim Burchett said, “The World Health Organization pandemic treaty is very vague, it affects our sovereignty, and it could be exploited to tell Americans what kind of health care they need in the event of a global pandemic.”
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