Italy stops the WHO pandemic plan and keeps the national one in the drawers

After the Covid tragedy, the watchword repeated everywhere was always the same: 'Next time we will be ready'. But one year after the end of the emergency declared by the WHO, there is still no international strategy on the possible next pandemic - at the centre of the World Health Assembly in recent days - on which no agreement has been reached, also because of Italy's opposition, which sees in the new pandemic plan an attack on national sovereignty. In the meantime, however, the Italian pandemic plan is still in the drawers, especially after the opposition expressed by some parts of the majority: the confirmation of the restriction measures in the event of a new emergency, as envisaged in every plan, is in the firing line. In the meantime, the H5N1 avian influenza has begun to scare, with outbreaks in US farms, although the Ministry of Health reassures: 'There is no alarm'.

These days the World Pandemic Plan is at the heart of the work of the WHO Assembly underway in Geneva with the aim of preventing future pandemics and ensuring an effective response should they occur. But according to the Italian Health Minister Orazio Schillaci there are still too many critical points. A position that therefore marks a distance from the optimism expressed instead by the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who in recent days had said he was 'confident' in reaching an agreement among the 194 participating countries. At the moment, Schillaci explained, on the pandemic treaty agreement 'we do not see sufficient progress and there are still too many critical points open. Therefore, we expect a clear roadmap to be redefined, with an adequate period of time to reach a consensus that Italy believes can be ratified, and with the necessary improvements to ensure health for all'. The critical aspects, we learn, would be linked in some way to a possible diminutio of national sovereignty and therefore of the possibility to intervene in health. On this point, the Health Minister emphasised that Italy had actively followed the negotiations for the new pandemic treaty and all the other issues discussed at the Assembly.

The drafting of the plan began more than two years ago, when the most acute phase of the Covid-19 emergency was just behind us. Despite lengthy negotiations, the agency's 194 member states failed to bring an agreed text to the Assembly. The subjects of friction were many: the fear of ceding sovereignty to the WHO; the balance between protecting commercial interests and the poorest countries' timely and affordable access to medicines and vaccines; the sharing of information on pathogens. Now Italy's new setback has arrived, with Schillaci having already opposed another measure proposed by the WHO and the EU, namely the global green pass, a sort of electronic health record that would be verifiable worldwide.

Meanwhile, however, even in Italy the Pandemic Plan 2024-2028 has remained in the drawers. The path of the long-awaited document that is supposed to secure Italy in case of a new pandemic is very bumpy. The plan was drawn up by the Prevention Directorate of the Ministry of Health, headed by Francesco Vaia, and presented last January at least in a first draft to the regions - to then sign the agreement in the State-Regions Conference - but since then, with the political controversy that has arisen, it has ended up in limbo. The published draft of the plan provoked criticism from a part of the majority in the government - with questions to Health Minister Schillaci - for confirming the restriction measures in the event of a pandemic, as required by every pandemic plan. A nightmare for those who had seen as smoke in the eyes the 2020 Prime Minister Conte's Prime Ministerial Decree to secure Italy in the face of Covid. Vaia, however, says he is confident: 'It was also substantially shared by the regions. There were some remarks that we took on board, so the plan is ready. There are principles that respect individual freedom. It must be approved, because never again must we be found unprepared'.

Meanwhile, fears are growing in the US about a risk of a pandemic linked to the bird flu virus, but the ministry reassures on the situation in Italy. 'There is no bird flu alarm in Italy, but the attention of the ministry and the technical-scientific community remains high in order to monitor the spread at the international level, update risk assessments at the national level, and evaluate preparedness actions on the ground,' says the ministry's Health Prevention DG Vaia. He explains that in Italy, at the moment, 'the risk of the bird flu virus spreading in animals is low. The virus circulating in the US is different from the genotypes circulating in Italy, where, at present, no cases have been reported in cattle or humans'. Two cases of avian influenza have been confirmed in the US in two people, unrelated cases, in conjunction with an outbreak in dairy cattle that is affecting several herds in several states.