A group of activists in Japan reportedly organized a protest to oppose the World Health Organization’s international pandemic agreement, which critics falsely claim will give WHO authority to mandate national pandemic responses. Some accounts claim that hundreds of thousands or even millions of people attended the protests. However, a security risk and crisis management agency noted that “several thousand” attended.
The treaty has frequently been the subject of outrage and conspiracy theories from vaccine opponents. Conspiracy theories about the pandemic agreement, which is in the final stages of negotiation, have circulated online for more than a year. The treaty does not affect any country’s sovereignty or authorize WHO to dictate pandemic response in any country but rather sets the stage for organized global pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response.
