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Abstract
Viewpoint
On December 1, 2021, the World Health Assembly, meeting in only the second special session since the World Health Organization’s (WHO) founding in 1948, agreed to develop a “convention, agreement, or other international instrument” to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.1 Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO’s director, explained that this decision was made as a result of the “many flaws in the global system to protect people from pandemics,” which, although unstated in the WHO press release, necessarily must include the failure to protect those most vulnerable from SARS-CoV-2 infection and ensure their access to care. [1st paragraph]