When a Health Minister with a Questionable Track Record Aims for the Top of Global Health Policy # Karl Lauterbach is being floated as a candidate for the position of WHO Director-General. You have to read that sentence twice to grasp what is happening. The man who promoted the COVID vaccine as “more or less side-effect-free” — on national television, in February 2022, to an audience of millions — is supposed to decide the health policy of the entire planet.
124 States Said Yes. The US Said No. And Germany Is Paying the Bill. # In May 2025, 124 WHO member states adopted an international pandemic agreement in Geneva — the most far-reaching health accord since the International Health Regulations of 2005. Eleven states abstained, including Italy, Poland, Israel, Russia, and Iran. No state voted against it [1][2].
On 18 May 2026, the 79th World Health Assembly (WHA79) opens in Geneva. On the agenda: the PABS annex to the WHO Pandemic Agreement — the mechanism that is supposed to determine what countries receive in return for sharing pathogen data that enables vaccine and drug development.
124 yes votes, zero no votes, historic. And not a single country has ratified since May 2025 — not because of resistance, but because the treaty text itself contains a prerequisite that remains unfulfilled. Why the ratification clock has never started.
