Argentina will not endorse the World Health Organization (WHO) sponsored Pandemic Treaty, Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni announced Monday. This decision was communicated at the World Health Assembly held in Geneva, Switzerland, where authorities from the National Ministry of Health and the Argentine Foreign Ministry made it clear that our country will not sign any pandemic agreement that could affect national sovereignty. In Argentina, decisions are made by the Argentines, Adorni stressed.
We do not have to adhere to any suggestion from a group of countries. We will make our own decisions in the face of an event that may never happen, such as the existence of a pandemic, he added. The WHO had been drafting a so-called Pandemic Treaty to be approved in late May but failed to garner enough support.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed out at the 77th World Health Assembly began in Geneva that our Member States are fully aware of how important the pandemic agreement is to protect future generations from the suffering inflicted on us by the Covid-19 pandemic. After the unsuccessful attempt, the WHO implemented ”a set of key amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) and made a concrete commitment to complete negotiations on a global pandemic agreement within a year. The Pandemic Treaty, officially known as the Convention, Agreement or other International Instrument on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response,�.
