Following the formal suspension of the fourth round of negotiations in December 2025, WHO Member States resumed deliberations on the PABS Annex under heightened time constraints from 20 to 22 January 2026. The Annex is intended to establish a safe, transparent and accountable system for the sharing of pathogens with pandemic potential and their genetic sequence information, alongside the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from their use. The objective remains to consolidate the PABS Annex to enable the WHO Pandemic Agreement, adopted by the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly in May 2025, to be opened for signature once the Annex is completed. Subject to finalization, the PABS Annex text will be submitted to the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly (WHA79) in May 2026 for consideration.
With only twelve formal negotiating days remaining, the timeframe for the further development of the PABS instrument has narrowed. This increases pressure on delegations to distinguish between issues that may realistically be resolved within the remaining negotiating window and those that may require deferral. While the resumed fourth IGWG meeting did not deliver major breakthroughs on the core points of disagreement, it did allow for relevant progress on aspects related to the operationalisation of the PABS system. These developments are unfolding against the backdrop of the United States’ formal withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the emergence of parallel bilateral arrangements with individual states, initiated by the US.
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About this series
The ‘Geneva Telegram’ analyses and documents the processes in Geneva's multilateral organisations on current topics. The reports on multilateral issues draw on the expertise of the KAS Geneva team and external authors. The Geneva Telegram is supplemented by the Maps of the Month, which summarise the voting results of UN member states on selected topics.