UN approves ‘pandemic declaration’ at General Assembly

Member states Wednesday approved a political declaration on pandemic readiness at the UN General Assembly.

The declaration was negotiated by Israel Ambassador Gilad Erdan and Morocco Ambassador Omar Hilale, and approved during a high-level meeting on “pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.”

Among the many calls to action in the declaration is the push toward a final Pandemic Accord which will grant the World Health Organization (WHO), a UN agency, authority to manage future pandemics. The agreement is expected to be signed sometime next year.

In the meantime, member states agreed in Wednesday’s declaration to increase vaccinations, which is mentioned 23 times throughout the 13-page document. They also agreed to suppress “misinformation,” “hate speech,” and “vaccine hesitancy” on social media while promoting trust in authorities. The declaration states in part:

Take measures to counter and address the negative impacts of health-related misinformation, disinformation, hate speech and stigmatization, especially on social media platforms, on people’s physical and mental health, including countering vaccine hesitancy in the context of pandemic prevention, preparedness and response and to foster trust in public health systems and authorities, including by increasing public health education, literacy and awareness, while recognizing that the effective engagement of stakeholders requires access to timely, accurate and evidence-based information and awareness raising including through the use of digital health tools.

Furthermore, countries are to ensure that women are given prominent roles during pandemics and should maintain a “gender perspective” in all aspects of pandemic responses:

Commit to strengthening women’s full, effective and meaningful participation in leadership and decision-making processes in pandemics and other health emergencies at all levels, and to mainstream a gender perspective into all policies and programmes, including in budgetary responses.

UN member states are also enjoined to ensure, by 2030, that birth control and other life-prevention products are integrated into “national strategies and programmes” and are distributed universally.

Another major tenet of the declaration is the directive to adopt the UN’s One Health agenda, which inseparably links human health to “climate change.” 

The One Health approach to healthcare dictates that “climate change” is the driving factor behind human health. For example, warmer climates can fuel tick infestations which can bring with them deadly diseases like Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF). Changing weather patterns can cause avian flu spread.

Therefore, the One Health agenda states that because pandemic diseases are zoonotic and spread from animals to humans, human health must be viewed in the context of animals and the environment or what is called the “human-animal-environment interface.” 

Regarding One Health the declaration states:

Promote international cooperation and coordination in alignment with the Joint Plan of Action for One Health, as appropriate, to support building regional, national and community level capacities, including through the use of a One Health approach, enable diagnostics of comprehensively addressing outbreaks in animals, the environment and humans during both inter-pandemic and pandemic times.

One Health, which has been highly endorsed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), would prioritize “climate change” over human health in some regard. No sacrifice would be too great to save the climate if it is the chief determinant of the health of all living things. A zoonotic outbreak, therefore, could open the door for climate mandates like lockdowns and forced vaccinations to stop the spread.

Indeed, the WHO recently paired with the Rockefeller Foundation to search for “climate pandemics.” It also partnered in June with the European Commission to develop international vaccine passports as drugmakers call for “climate vaccinations.”

The declaration also includes a request for $30 billion toward a WHO “Pandemic Fund.”