By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The United Nations General Assembly approved a new political declaration on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response Monday, October 12, by a vote of 153–3, with the United States, Israel and Argentina casting the only opposing votes.
New Zealand and Paraguay abstained from the vote, which followed unsuccessful efforts to secure unanimous approval during a September 25 high-level meeting at UN headquarters in New York.
The declaration calls for stronger international cooperation, improved disease surveillance, expanded healthcare capacity and coordinated responses to future pandemics. It also welcomes the World Health Organization’s Pandemic Agreement, adopted in May 2025.
According to UN News, the declaration is politically significant but legally nonbinding. It does not authorize the WHO to impose lockdowns, vaccination mandates or other public health restrictions on individual countries.
The Trump administration opposed the measure over language concerning sexual and reproductive healthcare, gender equality and ongoing negotiations related to international pathogen-sharing arrangements.
During debate, the American delegation argued that certain provisions conflicted with U.S. policy and exceeded the level of international cooperation Washington was prepared to endorse.
“While we support strengthening health systems and protecting women’s health, we do not support references to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, and ‘sexual and reproductive health care service’s without caveats and qualification,” the U.S. representative said, according to Health Policy Watch.
“The United States strongly opposes the inclusion of harmful gender ideology, including comprehensive sexuality education, as it is detrimental to the well-being and development of children and undermines parental authority.”
The declaration includes commitments to promoting gender equality and expanding access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, including family planning, by 2030. However, it does not explicitly reference reproductive rights, gender ideology or comprehensive sexuality education.
Iran also objected to portions of the reproductive healthcare language, arguing that such terminology lacked universal agreement and should not be interpreted as establishing international legal obligations.
Canada and Australia expressed concerns from a different perspective, arguing that the final language weakened commitments to gender equality and reproductive healthcare rights.
Italy separately raised objections during negotiations over provisions addressing misinformation, disinformation and what UN officials describe as managing an “infodemic,” although the country ultimately supported the declaration.
Despite these disagreements, the overwhelming majority of UN member states backed the measure, emphasizing the importance of international cooperation in preventing future global health emergencies.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the result in an official statement issued October 12.
“WHO welcomes this strong commitment by UN Member States to continue working together on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response,” Tedros said.
“The world has come a long way since COVID-19. We urge countries to now fulfil the commitments they have made – especially to finalize negotiations on the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing system (PABS) annex, so the WHO Pandemic Agreement can be opened for signature, begin the process of ratification and enter into force as international law.”
The proposed pathogen-sharing system would establish procedures for countries to exchange pathogen samples and genetic information while providing access to resulting vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tools.
Negotiations remain unresolved because of disagreements over how those benefits should be distributed, particularly between wealthier nations and developing countries.
The WHO Pandemic Agreement cannot proceed to the signature stage until the annex is finalized. Negotiators are expected to revisit the issue at the World Health Assembly in May 2027.
The declaration’s adoption does not resolve those negotiations or make the agreement legally binding on countries that have not ratified it.
For the Trump administration, the vote highlights continuing concerns about preserving national decision-making authority over public health policy. The United States has maintained that it supports international cooperation against infectious disease outbreaks while opposing provisions it considers inconsistent with domestic priorities.
Supporters of the declaration argue that pandemics cannot be effectively contained through national action alone and require coordinated surveillance, research, medical supply chains and rapid information sharing.
The October 12 vote establishes broad political support for those objectives but leaves implementation dependent on individual governments and future international agreements.
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