The pathogen-sharing annex missed its May deadline. Talks now run to 2027
The World Health Assembly gave negotiators another year — or a special session later this year — to finish the annex that has to be adopted before the pandemic agreement can open for signature.
The deadline this newspaper has been tracking since December has now passed, and the pathogen-sharing annex to the WHO Pandemic Agreement is still unfinished. Meeting this week in Geneva, the World Health Assembly agreed to give negotiators until the Eightieth World Health Assembly in May 2027 to complete it — or, if progress allows, a special session of the Assembly called earlier [s2].
What just happened
Member states ended the resumed sixth meeting of the Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) on 1 May without a completed text on Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS), and said they needed more time to finalize the framework [s1]. That outcome was presented to the Assembly, which convened its Seventy-ninth session in Geneva starting 18 May [s2].
On 19 May, the Assembly formalized what the 1 May statement had signaled was likely: it decided to continue the drafting and negotiation of the PABS annex under the IGWG, and agreed that member states would submit the outcome of the negotiations for consideration by the Eightieth World Health Assembly in May 2027, or at a dedicated special session of the Assembly convened sometime in 2026 [s2]. The IGWG's mandate under Article 12 of the Pandemic Agreement continues, and the group will hold its seventh meeting from 6 to 17 July [s1] [s2].
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus framed the outcome as forward motion rather than failure. "Real progress was made on the PABS annex and I am confident through continued negotiations differences will be overcome," he said, adding that "the PABS annex is the last piece of the puzzle not only for the Pandemic Agreement but all initiatives that WHO and Member States have implemented as a result of lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic" [s1].
IGWG Bureau Co-Chair Ambassador Tovar da Silva Nunes of Brazil put it more bluntly: "We are not there yet, but with an extension of our negotiations, we will get there" [s1]. Co-chair Matthew Harpur said member states "have demonstrated strong and continuing commitment to negotiations on a Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system annex," and that the Bureau remains "confident we are moving in the right direction to finalize the PABS annex" [s1].
Why this is a bigger deal than a missed deadline
This newspaper has covered three previous rounds of these talks — in December, an unscheduled January session, and the fifth IGWG meeting in February, each of which ended without a finished annex and each of which pointed toward the same May deadline [s3]. That deadline existed because of how the Pandemic Agreement itself is structured. The Assembly adopted the agreement in May 2025, and under Article 31 it cannot open for signature by member states until the Assembly separately adopts the PABS annex [s1]. No annex, no signature. No signature, no ratification. No ratification, no entry into force.
An annex not ready for a given May session was expected, going into this year, to slip a full year to the next Assembly — and that is essentially what has now happened, with the partial cushion of a possible special session sometime in 2026 if negotiators move faster than the pattern of the last five months suggests they will [s1] [s2].
What the annex is trying to solve
The PABS system is meant to ensure, on an equal footing, the rapid sharing of pathogens with pandemic potential and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits that result from that sharing — vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics among them [s1]. The problem is structural: in an outbreak, samples and genetic sequence data move quickly from the country where a pathogen emerges to the laboratories and manufacturers capable of turning them into products. Historically, the resulting vaccines and treatments have flowed back far more slowly, if at all. PABS is an attempt to make that return flow contractual rather than a matter of goodwill.
Making Article 12 operational requires the annex to specify exactly what materials trigger obligations, what benefits are owed in return, in what quantity, on what timeline, and who adjudicates disputes. None of that has been resolved with language vague enough to paper over the gap between pathogen-origin countries and manufacturing countries — which is why five negotiating rounds in six months have not closed it.
What comes next
The IGWG reconvenes 6–17 July, an eleven-day session that is itself longer than most of the rounds held so far this year [s1]. Whether that additional time produces a text the Assembly could adopt at a special session this year, rather than waiting the full year to May 2027, is the question that will determine whether the extension announced this week functions as a short delay or effectively resets the clock on the Pandemic Agreement's entry into force.
WHO's public statements through this process have consistently emphasized commitment and momentum rather than detailing where the substantive disagreements lie. That pattern held again this week [s1]. What would change the outlook is a July session that produces consolidated text with the bracketed options narrowed, rather than another readout describing progress without describing what, specifically, remains contested.
Sources
- [s1] World Health Organization, "WHO Member States agree to extend negotiations on Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing annex," 1 May 2026. https://www.who.int/news/item/01-05-2026-who-member-states-agree-to-extend-negotiations-on-pathogen-access-and-benefit-sharing-annex
- [s2] World Health Organization, "Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly – Daily update: 19 May 2026," 19 May 2026. https://www.who.int/news/item/19-05-2026-seventy-ninth-world-health-assembly---daily-update--19-may-2026
- [s3] World Health Organization, "Global commitment on display as countries negotiate key annex to the Pandemic Agreement," 17 February 2026. https://www.who.int/news/item/17-02-2026-global-commitment-on-display-as-countries-negotiate-key-annex-to-the-pandemic-agreement
Sources
- WHO Member States agree to extend negotiations on Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing annex — World Health Organization , May 1, 2026
- Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly – Daily update: 19 May 2026 — World Health Organization , May 19, 2026
- Global commitment on display as countries negotiate key annex to the Pandemic Agreement — World Health Organization , February 17, 2026
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