Mr. Joe Hanly:

Public health measures will stay the competency of the member states and this is very clear in the agreement. Vaccine policy is a matter for individual member states. What the pandemic agreement is trying to get at is access to vaccine material itself and the technology and know-how behind it, conscious that some of it is commercial intellectual property and conscious of the nuances around the issue. It is about information being shared as equitably as it can be. The broad aim is towards equity, whereby member states of the WHO that have less developed or less resilient health systems would get support from other member states that have more developed and more resilient services, and that they have access to medical countermeasures including PPE.

There is a section in the agreement on countering misinformation, disinformation and vaccine hesitancy but it is about providing clear and accurate information to citizens. It is not in any way about restricting a member state in terms of what its vaccination policy would be.