Fact Check: Fake News About 'Pandemic Agreement'

The World Health Organization (WHO) wants to ensure fairer health care in rich and poorer countries, as well as a better exchange of data between countries, in the event of a new pandemic with a new international agreement. Last week, the WHO's intergovernmental negotiating body discussed proposals for a Pandemic Preparedness Agreement. The goal is to reach a final agreement in May 2024 at the 76th WHO conference.

Many questions are still open, but criticism – including from some politicians – is already loud. In February of this year, only the first draft (Zero draft) of the convention was published, but since then comments and posts with accusations and false claims have not stopped on social networks. DW is checking out some of those allegations.

Can the WHO encroach on the sovereignty of states?

Assertion: The WHO wants to intervene in the sovereignty of states, several users write on social networks.

DW Fact Check: Wrong

The text of the Pandemic Agreement is being negotiated by 194 member states, but the WHO itself does not determine the content of the new international agreement. The draft text of the agreement emphasizes the sovereignty of states. In a statement to DW, the German Ministry of Health emphasizes that "finally agreed regulations will be ratified by sovereign states in order to have a national legal effect."

"In the current draft of the treaty or agreement on the pandemic, it is emphasized that states retain their sovereignty in determining prevention and action measures in the event of a pandemic," international law expert Pedro Villarreal, who conducts research at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and Public Law, explained to DW on global health law and the role of the WHO.

The WHO is an international organization and is responsible for coordinating the response to outbreaks of infectious diseases – for example, for exchanging information with member states. He can give recommendations, but he cannot impose any sanctions, Villarreal told DW.

Can the WHO send in UN troops?

Assertion: The WHO will send United Nations soldiers to enforce the provisions of the Pandemic Agreement, one Twitter user announced. She argues that the national army should enforce the terms of the agreement, and if the country does not comply, the UN will deploy its forces, for example to force people to get vaccinated. To date, her post has been viewed more than 20.000 times.

DW Fact Check: Wrong

If this were true, it would also represent an encroachment on the sovereignty of states, which is not foreseen in the WHO draft agreement. In addition, the United Nations has no permanent military units at its disposal. They only carry out peacekeeping missions to help their member states. For this purpose, the UN Security Council can establish and supervise a mandate for peacekeeping measures. However, the Security Council must ask the member states in each individual case to make their soldiers available. WHO has no influence on such a decision. "As a health organization, the WHO is under no circumstances authorized to send soldiers to a country," says the organization's response to DW's inquiry.

Can the WHO force people to get vaccinated?

Assertion: The WHO wants to force people to get vaccinated, writes several users on social networks, say on Twitter (1, 2, 3). Some of these claims were published last year, and are constantly being shared and read thousands of times.

DW Fact Check: Wrong

In the draft text of the Pandemic Preparedness Agreement, there is no mention of a possible vaccination requirement. First of all, it talks about how to more fairly distribute vaccines and medicines between poorer and richer countries. That was one of the points that were discussed during the corona pandemic. While the richer countries had vaccines available relatively quickly, and in large quantities, the poorer countries of the Global South got nothing.

And what is the position of the WHO on mandatory vaccination? During the 2021 corona pandemic, the World Organization indicated that vaccination is only one option when all other options have been exhausted. During the corona, the introduction of mandatory vaccination was discussed in several countries. In Germany, for example, the government made a decision to make mandatory vaccination of employees in some institutions, say in hospitals. However, compulsory vaccination in Germany is legally possible only in exceptional cases.

Can the WHO control every movement?

Assertion: WHO wants to use digital passports to control every movement, write users on Telegram and Twitter. One such tweet from June 2023 was viewed more than 80.000 times.

DW Fact Check: Wrong

The draft text of the WHO agreement does not indicate that the organization wants to introduce digital passports to control every movement. The World Health Organization "is not involved in any national digital certification of personal health, nor in the collection of personal data," according to the answer to DW's inquiry. It depends on the countries themselves which data will be collected.

Let's say, the so-called With the European Union's covid certificate, people could prove that they had been vaccinated during the pandemic. This made it easier for many people to travel to other countries. The digital certificate stores information about the vaccine, the amount of vaccine doses and the disease in question. However, no other personal data is permanently stored in one place.

According to Tobias Rothmund, professor of communication and media psychology at the University of Jena, it is common to be skeptical of science, transnational organizations and governments. "People generally have a hard time distinguishing true from false statements, and this causes insecurity." And the spread of such false information is often a consequence of political attitudes or strategic motives, emphasizes Rothmund.