With Only Three 'No' Votes, UN Adopts Political Declaration on Pandemic Preparedness

The UN General Assembly adopted the Political Declaration on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response on 13 October 2026 by a vote of 153 in favour to 3 against (US, Israel, Argentina), with 2 abstentions, affirming that pandemic readiness requires resilient health services, universal health coverage, and equitable access to vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, while highlighting a $15 billion annual funding gap.

While the votes against are unfortunate, it's a positive step. Pandemics don't respect borders. The declaration contains few concrete, measurable or time-bound commitments and requires countries to convert words into policy action and investment.