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Excerpt from www.usatoday.com
For more than two years, countries of the world have worked together toward one generational goal – to ensure we are better prepared for the next pandemic by learning the lessons from COVID-19.
At a time when conflicts, politics and economics have wrought destruction, discord and division, sovereign governments have found a way to work collaboratively to forge a new global agreement to protect the world from future, inevitable pandemic emergencies.
This essential effort, being driven by hundreds of negotiators tasked by more than 190 nations, was launched in the middle of the most devastating event in our lifetimes.
Based on official counts, COVID-19 left more than 7 million people dead worldwide. But the real toll is likely many times higher. It wiped billions, if not trillions, from the global economy. Social upheaval, from job losses to school closures, scarred communities across the globe.