World Health Assembly Adopts Pandemic Agreement, Prepares for Disease X

Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) today formally adopted the world's first Pandemic Agreement.

Announced on May 20, 2025, the decision by the 78th World Health Assembly culminated in more than three years of negotiations launched by governments in response to the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Regarding national sovereignty, Agreementent states that: "Nothing in the WHO Pandemic Agreement shall be interpreted as providing the Secretariat of the World Health Organization, including the Director-General of the World Health Organization, any authority to direct, order, alter or otherwise prescribe the national and/or domestic law, as appropriate, or policies of any Party, or to mandate or otherwise impose any requirements that Parties take specific actions, such as ban or accept travellers, impose vaccination mandates or therapeutic or diagnostic measures or implement lockdowns."

The new Agreement was driven by the goal of making the world safer and more equitable in response to future pandemics, such as Disease X.

According to the WHO, Disease X represents the knowledge that a serious international epidemic could be caused by a pathogen currently unknown to cause human disease. 

On April 4, 2025, the WHO's Global Health Emergency Corps announced a framework designed to strengthen countries' emergency workforce, coordinate the deployment of surge teams and experts, and enhance collaboration between governments, which was tested.

Disease X was first included in the WHO Blueprint for Epidemics in February 2018, aiming to accelerate the development of medical countermeasures. It is expected to be caused by a "pathogen X," likely a zoonotic disease or infection that can be transmitted between humans and animals.

In the United States, the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) developed a Pandemic Preparedness Plan to prepare for future public health emergencies caused by infectious diseases.

While it is recognized that pathogens other than viruses could lead to public health emergencies, the NIAID Pandemic Preparedness Plan focuses on viruses that could cause epidemics or pandemics.