As omicron variant alarm spreads, countries mull a radical ‘pandemic treaty’
By Adam Taylor
Reporter
November 30, 2021 at 12:01 a.m. EST
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WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus addressing the special session of the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Nov. 29. (Christopher Black/AFP/Getty Images)
Omicron was the Black Friday surprise no one wanted. But this mysterious and alarming new coronavirus variant has injected itself into a global debate about vaccine inequality and pandemic responses at a potentially crucial moment.
Less than a week after the new variant was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) by South Africa, global leaders met Monday to discuss the creation of a new international agreement to better deal with historic outbreaks — what some advocates have dubbed a “pandemic treaty.” The special session of the World Health Assembly (WHA), only the second ever held by the WHO’s governing body, is expected to last until Wednesday.
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The meeting began as the WHO warned of “very high” global risk from the new variant. “The emergence of the highly mutated omicron variant underlines just how perilous and precarious our situation is,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in his opening statement.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/11/30/omicron-pandemic-treaty-who/
