Sustainability in the pandemic accord

The UN recognises that sustainability is a core value and requires balancing both near-term and long-term outcomes.3 The pandemic accord would benefit from a definition that is more contextualised to pandemics. [...]we have offered a more tailored definition of sustainability: ‘Ensure that emergency responses that are appealing for the immediate problem do not imperil future responses, preparation for the next pandemic, or responding with research, development and manufacturing to subsequent pandemics.’4 This addition to the accord would accomplish two things. The Accord is itself premised on the supposition that pandemics will foreseeably and periodically recur, even if the precise timeframe is not easily determined. Because the Accord is concerned with multiple future pandemics, attention must be paid to potential trade-offs between the near-term and long-term effects of policies. [...]adding sustainability to the list of guiding principles should be accompanied by a critical review of the role of the other principles.