WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus urged countries to sign the pandemic treaty to prepare for “Disease X,” a hypothetical virus that could be 20 times deadlier than COVID-19.
Ghebreyesus emphasized that the treaty would help the world better respond to future outbreaks, addressing the need for an early-warning system, supply chain organization, and research and development.
He stressed the importance of preparing for unknown threats and highlighted the treaty’s goal to foster a collective approach.
“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,” Ghebreyesus said.
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,” Ghebreyesus added. “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?”
“The pandemic agreement can bring all the experience, all the challenges that we have faced and all the solutions into one,” Ghebreyesus said. “That agreement can help us to prepare for the future in a better way.”
“This is a common global interest, and very narrow national interests should not come into the way.”
“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.”
While world leaders announced the treaty’s negotiation in 2021, some critics, including GOP representatives, expressed concerns about potential sovereignty issues.
“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,” Rep. Tim Burchett said.
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