WHO Members Adopt ‘Pandemic Agreement’ Born Out of the Disjointed Global COVID Response 

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivers his report before delegates during the World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 19, 2025. (AFP)
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivers his report before delegates during the World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 19, 2025. (AFP)
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WHO Members Adopt ‘Pandemic Agreement’ Born Out of the Disjointed Global COVID Response 

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivers his report before delegates during the World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 19, 2025. (AFP)
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivers his report before delegates during the World Health Assembly in Geneva on May 19, 2025. (AFP)

The World Health Organization's member countries on Tuesday approved an agreement to better prevent, prepare for and respond to future pandemics in the wake of the devastation wrought by the coronavirus. 

Sustained applause echoed in a Geneva hall hosting the WHO’s annual assembly as the measure — debated and devised over three years — passed. One hundred and twenty-four countries voted in favor, no countries voted against, while 11 countries, including Poland, Israel, Italy, Russia, Slovakia and Iran, abstained. 

The treaty guarantees that countries which share virus samples will receive tests, medicines and vaccines. Up to 20% of such products would be given to the WHO to ensure poorer countries have some access to them when the next pandemic hits. 

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has touted the agreement as “historic” and a sign of multilateralism at a time when many countries are putting national interests ahead of shared values and cooperation. 

Dr. Esperance Luvindao, Namibia’s health minister and the chair of a committee that paved the way for Tuesday’s adoption, said that the COVID-19 pandemic inflicted huge costs “on lives, livelihoods and economies.” 

“We, as sovereign states, have resolved to join hands, as one world together, so we can protect our children, elders, frontline health workers and all others from the next pandemic,” Luvindao added. “It is our duty and responsibility to humanity.” 

The treaty’s effectiveness will face doubts because the United States, which poured billions into speedy work by pharmaceutical companies to develop COVID-19 vaccines, is sitting out, and because countries face no penalties if they ignore it, a common issue in international law. 

The US, traditionally the top donor to the UN health agency, was not part of the final stages of the agreement process after the Trump administration announced a US pullout from the WHO and funding to the agency in January. 



Iranian Missile Hits Main Hospital in Southern Israel as Strikes Wound Dozens

Smoke rises from Soroka Medical Center following a missile strike from Iran on Israel, in Be'er Sheva, Israel June 19, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Smoke rises from Soroka Medical Center following a missile strike from Iran on Israel, in Be'er Sheva, Israel June 19, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
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Iranian Missile Hits Main Hospital in Southern Israel as Strikes Wound Dozens

Smoke rises from Soroka Medical Center following a missile strike from Iran on Israel, in Be'er Sheva, Israel June 19, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Smoke rises from Soroka Medical Center following a missile strike from Iran on Israel, in Be'er Sheva, Israel June 19, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

An Iranian missile slammed into the main hospital in southern Israel early Thursday, wounding people and causing “extensive damage," according to the medical facility. 

Israeli media aired footage of blown-out windows and heavy black smoke.

Another missile hit a high-rise building and several other residential buildings in at least two sites near Tel Aviv. At least 40 people were wounded in the attacks, according to Israel's Magen David Adom rescue service.

Israel, meanwhile, carried out strikes on Iran’s Arak heavy water reactor, in its latest attack on the country's sprawling nuclear program, on the seventh day of a conflict that began with a surprise wave of Israeli airstrikes targeting military sites, senior officers and nuclear scientists.

Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel, though most have been shot down by Israel's multi-tiered air defenses, which detect incoming fire and shoot down missiles heading toward population centers and critical infrastructure. Israeli officials acknowledge it is imperfect.

The missile hit the Soroka Medical Center, which has over 1,000 beds and provides services to the approximately 1 million residents of Israel’s south.

A hospital statement said several parts of the medical center were damaged and that the emergency room was treating several minor injuries. The hospital was closed to all new patients except for life-threatening cases. It was not immediately clear how many were wounded in the strike.

Many hospitals in Israel activated emergency plans in the past week, converting underground parking to hospital floors and move patients underground, especially those who are on ventilators or are difficult to move quickly.

Israel’s military said its fighter jets targeted the Arak facility and its reactor core seal to halt it from being used to produce plutonium.

“The strike targeted the component intended for plutonium production, in order to prevent the reactor from being restored and used for nuclear weapons development,” the military said. Israel separately claimed to have struck another site around Natanz it described as being related to Iran’s nuclear program.

Iranian state TV said there was “no radiation danger whatsoever” from the attack on the Arak site. An Iranian state television reporter, speaking live in the nearby town of Khondab, said the facility had been evacuated and there was no damage to civilian areas around the reactor.

Israel had warned earlier Thursday morning it would attack the facility and urged the public to flee the area.