What happened in this Health story?

The United States blocked adoption of a UN General Assembly political declaration on pandemic preparedness and response at a 25 September high-level meeting, drawing sharp criticism from global health experts who called the move a signal that Washington intends to abandon international cooperation on health threats.

What is a key fact in this story? (1)

**The United States** blocked the UN General Assembly political declaration on pandemic preparedness at the 25 September high-level meeting, with its delegate saying it was "not in a position" to support the text and preventing adoption by consensus.

What is a key fact in this story? (2)

**Prof Lawrence Gostin** of Georgetown University said the US dissent "severely weakens" the document and "signals a clear US intention not to cooperate globally to health threats common to all nations," noting American financing and science were once the bedrock of outbreak detection.

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US Blocks UN Pandemic Preparedness Declaration — SkimNews

By The Guardian Science · Summarized & edited by Kapil Samant · 2026-09-28

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The United States blocked the UN General Assembly political declaration on pandemic preparedness at the 25 September high-level meeting, with its delegate saying it was "not in a position" to support the text and preventing adoption by consensus.
Prof Lawrence Gostin of Georgetown University said the US dissent "severely weakens" the document and "signals a clear US intention not to cooperate globally to health threats common to all nations," noting American financing and science were once the bedrock of outbreak detection.
Italy also rejected the declaration, while the EU delegate cited "red lines" around intellectual property — specifically whether technology transfer between countries should be voluntary or mandated in WHO treaty negotiations.
CDC Director Dr Erica Schwartz pointed to "divisive ideologies that lack definitional consensus" and references to ongoing WHO-led negotiations on fair sharing of vaccines and drugs as critical unresolved issues.
The Trump administration objected to mentions of equity and universal access to sexual and reproductive healthcare, building on executive orders earlier this year that expanded the "global gag" rule to ban DEI initiatives and "gender ideology" among US aid recipients.
The US withdrew from the WHO shortly after Trump took office, compounding its retreat from pandemic cooperation architecture while a separate WHO-led pandemic agreement remains stalled over pathogen access and benefit sharing.
Helen Clark, former New Zealand Prime Minister, and Eloise Todd of Resilience Action Network International both called the failure to advance the declaration disappointing and unacceptable; it is still likely to be adopted at a later UNGA session where a majority vote suffices.

Why it matters: The US was historically the financial and scientific bedrock of global outbreak detection and response, per Gostin, yet by blocking this declaration after already withdrawing from the WHO, Washington forecloses the easiest political path to coordinated pandemic preparedness while negotiations over pathogen access and benefit sharing remain unresolved. The declaration is non-binding, but its blockage means the next pandemic meets a world without the cooperative framework that the US itself once built.