WHO signs international pandemic response treaty without the U.S.

Washington Post As countries overwhelmingly passed a WHO global pandemic agreement, top U.S. health official Robert F. Kennedy Jr. invited states to reject the “moribund WHO.” After three years of intensive negotiations, the World Health Organization on Tuesday adopted the world’s first agreement on how to cooperate and respond to future pandemics — without the support of the United States. The agreement was overwhelmingly passed in a vote of the World Health Assembly, an annual gathering of WHO member state delegations: 124 votes in favor, 11 abstentions and no objections. Leaders of member states hailed the accords, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who called it a shared commitment to ensuring that “no one is left behind.”