The World Health Assembly (WHA)—the decision-making body of the World Health Organization, comprised of its member nations—which ran from May 24 to June 1, yesterday called on the WHO to take steps to itself be better prepared for the likes of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to otherwise collaborate with nations on world preparedness for dealing with all potential health emergencies. There was consensus among the 190-plus WHO member states that the current pandemic has exposed the public health- care weaknesses at all levels—national, regional, and global. They concurred that the COVAX effort to supply vaccines to the whole world, is completely inadequate.
A special session of the WHA, scheduled for November, is reported to be commissioned to set up an intergovernmental process to draft and negotiate an international agreement or convention, for defense against future potential pandemics.
