World Health Organization member countries on Tuesday approved an agreement to better prevent, prepare for and respond to future pandemics in the wake of the devastation wrought by the coronavirus.
00:00The report contains one resolution to adopt the WHO Pandemic Agreement, entitled Draft Resolution on the WHO Pandemic Agreement.
00:13Is the Assembly ready to adopt this resolution?
00:21I see no objection. The resolution is adopted.
00:30Last night, you approved it.
00:38124 member states voted in favor and none against.
00:42And today, we celebrate.
00:47Today, you have sent a loud message that multilateralism not only works,
00:54but is the only way to find shared solutions to shared threats.
01:02Let's not understate what you have achieved.
01:07You have made the world a safer place.
01:11I repeat, a safer place.
01:13It will not infringe on national sovereignty in any way, nor give the WHO Secretariat power to impose mask or vaccine mandate or lockdowns.
01:28But anyone who says it will, is clearly mistaken.
01:35You, the member states, have made that very clear in the text of the agreement itself.
01:43Your adoption this morning of the WHO Pandemic Agreement will rank among the most significant achievements in the history of this organization and of global health.
