The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) says the organization did not drive the worldwide response to COVID-19 and isn't spearheading attempts to make a pandemic accord either.Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made these explicit claims days ago at the World Governments Summit and followed up with similar ones at the Munich Security Conference."Let me be clear: WHO did not impose anything on anyone during the COVID-19 pandemic. Not lockdowns, not mask mandates, not vaccine mandates. We don’t have the power to do that, we don’t want it and we’re not trying to get it," Ghebreyesus said at the summit."Our job is to support governments with evidence-based guidance, advice and, when needed, supplies, to help them protect their people. But the decisions are theirs. And so is the pandemic agreement. It has been written by countries, for countries, and will be implemented in countries in accordance with their own national laws."The director general claimed WHO is supporting sovereignty, not undermining it."In fact, WHO will not even be a party to the agreement. The parties are governments and governments alone. Far from ceding sovereignty, the agreement actually affirms national sovereignty and national responsibility in its foundational principles," he said."Indeed, the agreement is itself an exercise of sovereignty. It’s about the commitments countries are making to keep themselves and each other safer from pandemics. And it recognizes that they can only do that by working with each other.".In more recent days, Ghebreyesus has been at the Munich Security Conference. In a post to Twitter ("X"), he said his roundtable discussion February 17 affirmed the "government-led process to negotiate a pandemic accord." He also "stressed the countries, and WHO, have committed to ensuring the pandemic agreement guarantees national control over national health decision-making."Ghebreyesus, who has been director-general for seven years, also called on youth worldwide to be personal ambassadors and lobbyists for the pandemic accord."The pandemic agreement is mission critical for humanity. If it had been in place before COVID-19, we would not have lost so much, we would not have suffered so much. As the generation that lived through COVID-19, we have the collective responsibility to protect future generations from the suffering we endured."As young people, you have the most to gain from a stronger agreement. It is likely you will face another pandemic in your lifetime. We can't know how mild or severe it might be, but we can be prepared. So, we need you to raise your voices to tell your leaders that you want this agreement, you want this accord. It's your future." "And we need you to raise your voices to counter the lies that are undermining the agreement on social media, in conversations with your friends and families and in any other way.""We cannot allow this historic agreement, this milestone in global health, to be sabotaged by those who spread lies, either deliberately or unknowingly, because ultimately the pandemic agreement is about you, your world and your future." .Although Ghebreyesus claims not to be in the driver's seat, he spent days meeting with politicians past and present to talk-up the pandemic accord and try to secure more funding for the WHO. He spoke directly with national leaders and foreign ministers from Bangladesh, Germany, Greece, Croatia, India, Slovenia, Barbados, and Finland. He also met with Hillary Clinton and Canadian Liberal MP Arielle Kayabaga (London West)."We had a great discussion about global health security and the role of parliamentarians in shaping health policies and decisions," Ghebreyesus said on Twitter ("X") of meeting Kayabaga.The director general also met "The Elders," an NGO of "independent global leaders" begun by Nelson Mandela in 2007 to facilitate "peace, justice, human rights and a sustainable planet." The group includes past Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and former Colombian president Juan Man Santos.In January, Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis (Haldimand—Norfolk, ON) warned online that the WHO could be given far-reaching powers in a pandemic accord."Of greatest concern, the treaty could give the WHO the legal ability to direct Canada’s future pandemic response, including mandating any range of measures from lockdowns to social distancing to specific vaccines approved for distribution within Canada. The treaty will define and classify what is to be considered a pandemic, and this could consist of very broad classifications," Lewis said.
