By sequencing their genomes, laboratories in nations like Brazil gave early warning of the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants. Douglas Magno / AFP via Getty is credited.
The most recent draft of a” pandemic treaty ,” an agreement between nations about how to best respond to the next major outbreak, was discussed by negotiators last week. How to fairly compensate nations for sharing viral-genome sequences is one sticking point in the draft.
What the upcoming pandemic might mean for the WHO’s new treaty
Researchers in nations like Brazil, South Africa, and India tracked the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic by analyzing the genetic sequences of viruses gathered from infected individuals. The creation of vaccines was made possible by the upload of those sequences to online data-sharing platforms. However, many of the nations that uploaded sequences took a while to receive the shots, if at all.
This disconnect creates a situation where disease-affected nations may decide to keep information to themselves in the future, which could be disastrous for the entire world. An equitable system for sharing data is required, according to researchers and officials, in order to quickly contain a future pandemic.
The pandemic treaty is intended to establish such a system, but as negotiations have demonstrated, it will be challenging to persuade nations to agree on its design. Suerie Moon, a global health policy researcher at the Geneva