WHO published an open letter on 15 June from Brazil’s president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to leaders of the G7, G20, BRICS and all nations. The letter urges governments to finish the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing annex, known as PABS, when negotiators meet from 6 to 17 July.
The annex matters because the pandemic agreement cannot enter into force until it is finished. Lula and Tedros wrote that countries must be able to identify pathogens with pandemic potential quickly, share genetic information and material, and develop tests, treatments and vaccines. They called PABS the system meant to make that possible fairly and on equal footing.
In plainer language, PABS is a bargain over speed and trust. If a country detects a dangerous pathogen, the world wants samples and genetic information shared fast enough for laboratories and manufacturers to respond. The country sharing that material wants confidence that the resulting medical tools will not be priced, allocated or delayed in a way that leaves it last in line.
WHO said member states closed their most recent negotiating session on 1 May after making progress but agreeing that more time was needed. The 15 June letter identifies the hard questions as how benefits are defined and shared, how the system is governed, and how equity is guaranteed in practice. Those are not drafting details. They are the political core of the agreement.
The letter also tries to answer a sovereignty argument that has followed the pandemic negotiations. Lula and Tedros wrote that the agreement does not give WHO authority to direct or alter national laws or policies, or to require lockdowns, travel restrictions or vaccination mandates. That sentence is not incidental. Without it, the July talks risk being pulled into domestic arguments about WHO power rather than the narrower question of pathogen access and benefit-sharing.