Global Pandemic Treaty

• COVID-19 was counted as the most severe pandemic the world has faced in the last 100 years.
• An estimated of 18million people may have died from COVID-19.
• Further, with over 120 million people pushed into extreme poverty, and a massive global recession, no single government/institution was able to address this emergency single-handedly.

• Health-care systems have been stretched beyond their capacity & gross health inequity was observed in the distribution of vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics across the world.
• With the help of the World Health Organization(WHO), it was declared that the monkeypox outbreak was a Public Health Emergency of International Concern(PHEIC) with more than 32k cases from 80 countries.
• High-income economies are still recovering from the after-effects, the socioeconomic consequences of the novel corona virus pandemic are irreversible in low & low-middle-income countries.
• The monopolies held by pharma majors like Pfizer, BioNTech, and Moderna created at least nine new billionaires since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.
• Only 3% of people in low-income countries were vaccinated with at least one dose, compared to 60.18% in high-income countries
• The international target to vaccinate 70% of the world's population against COVID-19 by mid-2022 was missed because poorer countries were at the back of the queue when vaccines were rolled out.
• 6-8 weeks after the PHEIC declaration, countries except for Asia, did not take the requisite precautions.
• Similarly, when world leaders pledged $8.07 billion for developing a coronavirus vaccine & treatments, the United States did not send any representative.
• Thus, inequality has also been prolonging the course of the pandemic.
• Against this backdrop, the creation of a Global Pandemic Treaty was proposed at the Special Session of the World Health Assembly(WHASS).

• India's response to the COVID-19 pandemic & reinstating global equity by leveraging its potential has set an example to legislators worldwide.
• India produces nearly 60% of the world's vaccines & is said to account for 60%-80% of the United Nation's annual vaccine procurement-"Vaccine Diplomacy / Vaccine Maitri", with a commitment against health inequity.
• India was unfettered in its resolve to continue the shipment of vaccines & other diagnostics even when it was experiencing a shortage of vaccines for domestic use.
• As of 2021, India shipped 594.35 lakh doses of 'Made-in-India' COVID-19 vaccines to 72 countries.
• India stood as a global leader, moving a proposal with South Africa in October 2020 to ask the World Trade Organization(WTO), to allow all countries to choose neither to grant nor enforce patents & other intellectual property related to COVID-19 drugs, vaccines, diagnostics & other technologies.
• Though this proposal was stonewalled by some leading countries, it was only in June 2022, that the WTO decided to water down intellectual property restrictions in manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines.

• In the COVID-19 pandemic, a multitude of initiatives were seen to address the pandemic & to do better in the future like the vaccine alliance.
• These are all valuable, but a treaty under the umbrella of WHO would build coherence & avoid fragmentation.
• Among high-income countries, and low & middle-income countries, the difference between the number of reported cases was relatively similar until late march 2021, high-income countries shared an average of 16.5 fold more sequences per reported case.
• Such a treaty should cover crucial aspects like data sharing, and genome sequencing of emerging viruses.
• It should formally commit governments & parliaments to implement an early warning system & a properly funded rapid response mechanism.
• It should mobilise nation states to agree on a set of common metrics that are related to health investments.
• These investments should aim to reduce the public-private sector gap.