Brown: Fake news threatens preparations for the next epidemic

Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned that "fake news" risked jeopardizing the World Health Organization's mission to prepare for the next epidemic, according to what the British PA Media news agency reported on Tuesday.

The World Health Organization is seeking to persuade all 194 member states to sign a “new global agreement to combat the epidemic ” next May, to ensure a unified response in the event of a new epidemic outbreak.

Brown - who served as Prime Minister during the swine flu pandemic in 2009 and now serves as the organization's ambassador for global health financing - warned that the global agreement to combat the epidemic reached in December 2021 was at risk, due to “Fake news” spread through social media.

Brown gave a speech about the agreement at the University of Glasgow on Tuesday, alongside WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus , who received an honorary degree.

The former Labor leader warned that “lies”, including a rumor about “the ability to deploy a global police force from the armed forces, to enforce mandatory vaccinations and lockdowns”, were spreading widely on social media, as part of a “misinformation campaign”.

Experts and fact-checking services have made it clear that the agreement will not allow the WHO to override domestic policy decisions, as has been rumored online.

Brown said: “More than two years ago, after the loss of lives during the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, everyone agreed that the Global Compact to Combat Pandemics (a new international document for the prevention, preparedness and response to epidemics) was necessary.”

He added: "Everyone agreed that no one is safe anywhere until everyone is safe everywhere."