How true are the claims about the "WHO pandemic treaty, an attempt to avoid mistakes during COVID-19"?

While conspiracy theories and fake news about the WHO are common online, the pandemic has given them a new opportunity to resurface.

A series of false and misleading claims have emerged online regarding the pandemic treaty, a historic agreement that has just been agreed upon by more than 190 members of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The pandemic treaty was first proposed by WHO members in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the aim of "preventing, preparing for, and responding to pandemics," reports Telegraph.

And for global health experts, a future pandemic is a matter of when, not if.

After more than three years of lengthy negotiations, WHO members reached an agreement on April 16, while the treaty will not be legally binding until it is formally ratified by states - which is expected to happen in May.

Since the creation of the WHO in 1948, only one other international agreement of this scale has been reached – the 2003 tobacco control agreement.

Will the treaty violate the sovereignty of the state?

In a post shared on social media on March 18, the ultra-conservative group CitizensGlobal claimed that the treaty would lead to the control of health policies “by unelected officials under the guise of pandemic preparedness.”

While the pandemic agreement will be legally binding once states have ratified it, the treaty does not override any nation's ability to adopt individual pandemic-related policies.

Membership in the WHO occurs on a voluntary basis, with the formulation of a treaty that explicitly affirms the sovereignty of states.

In a statement issued on April 16, shortly after the treaty was adopted, the WHO said that “nothing in the draft agreement shall be interpreted as providing WHO with any authority to direct, order, amend or prescribe national laws or policies, or to mandate states to take specific actions.”

Will the treaty establish mandatory vaccinations?

Another online claim, shared on April 12 by AUF1, an Austrian far-right media channel, claimed that “the treaty would lead to mandatory vaccination, testing regimes and isolation requirements.”

But according to the WHO statement, nothing in the treaty gives it the authority to force a country to "deny or admit travelers, impose vaccination mandates or therapeutic or diagnostic measures, or implement lockdowns."

Speaking to Euronews, Jaume Vidal, senior policy advisor at Health Action International, stressed that "before the WHO declares a public health emergency of particular concern like a pandemic, it goes through a committee of member states and experts."

"Governments have the final say on everything that happens in their territories. WHO can advise, it can suggest, it can provide technical assistance, but it is the governments that decide in the end," he added.

Will countries be forced to donate vaccines?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, richer countries were accused of hoarding vaccines to the detriment of poorer countries.

In an effort to manage this, WHO members looked at how this issue could be addressed during the course of treaty negotiations.

However, this prospect led some internet users to claim that the agreement would lead to countries being forced to donate vaccines.

"A possible obligation to donate vaccines is not agreed in the treaty. It is also not clear what percentage of vaccines or other medical products would potentially be given to WHO," Pedro A. Villarreal, global health researcher, German Institute for International Security Affairs, told Euronews.

"If a vaccine deal is reached between certain countries, it is also not clear whether the poorest countries would receive vaccines free of charge or at preferential prices," Villarreal added.

Another point of contention was the technology transfer clause, which centers around the idea that countries can share intellectual property rights and the means to produce vaccines and drugs.

While lower-income countries were in favor of stronger rules that would allow them to produce vaccines domestically, wealthier countries, including EU members, insisted that technology transfer should be voluntary and "mutually agreed."

Wider skepticism about pandemic treaty

In Europe, Slovak Prime Minister Roberto Fico – who created a special commission tasked with investigating pandemic measures – issued the loudest criticism of the pandemic treaty.

In October 2024, the commission called for Slovakia to “refuse to sign the global pandemic treaty, as well as the updated regulations of the World Health Organization.”

Slovakia's former Health Minister Zuzana Dolinková resigned from her post shortly after the publication of the report, which has been discredited by scientists.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, US President Donald Trump began the process of withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization in January. /Telegraph/