# What the Never Again International Outbreak Prevention Act Does

This bill creates a system to hold foreign countries accountable for how they report and monitor disease outbreaks, with the goal of preventing another pandemic like COVID-19. The law essentially grades countries on their disease surveillance practices and then punishes those that don't meet international standards or deliberately hide information about health threats.

Here's how it works in practice: The State Department would sort every country into three tiers based on whether they properly monitor new viruses and report outbreaks to the World Health Organization within three days of identifying them. Tier 1 countries meet these standards. Tier 2 countries could meet them but aren't currently doing so. Tier 3 countries lack the financial or infrastructure resources to comply. For Tier 2 countries, the President can take various actions ranging from mild (private complaints to the government) to severe (canceling scientific exchanges, blocking military aid, freezing assets, or blocking government officials from entering the U.S.). The bill also allows Americans to sue foreign governments in U.S. courts if they deliberately concealed disease information that led to a pandemic causing harm in America.

Additionally, the bill directs the U.S. to push for a global ban on "wet markets"—places where live animals are sold in unsanitary conditions without health certification—since these are considered potential sources of disease outbreaks. The bill also calls for an international investigation into how the World Health Organization handled COVID-19 and whether countries failed to report accurately.

The practical effect is that countries face real consequences—financial, diplomatic, and legal—if they're caught hiding disease outbreaks or failing to maintain proper disease monitoring systems. For Americans, this could theoretically provide a legal avenue to seek damages if a foreign government's cover-up of a disease outbreak causes a pandemic that harms them.

Never Again International Outbreak Prevention Act

Fitzpatrick, Brian K.

Never Again International Outbreak Prevention Act This bill establishes measures related to international accountability for outbreaks of novel viruses and diseases. The Department of State must establish lists of countries based on the procedures and standards each country has implemented to (1) identify outbreaks and monitor diseases, and (2) ensure that novel viruses and diseases are timely reported. The President must take specified action with respect to countries that are deemed capable of implementing such procedures and standards but have not done so. The President may also sanction government officials of such countries. Foreign state sovereign immunity is waived in any case seeking damages against a foreign state for (1) injury or death in the United States caused by a state's failure to abide by such procedures and standards, or (2) intentionally misleading the international community or the World Health Organization (WHO) regarding the outbreak or spread of a health concern that leads to a pandemic. The President must facilitate (1) an international investigation and report on the response to COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019), and (2) an international audit of the WHO relating to its actions in response to COVID-19. The U.S. Representative to the United Nations (U.N.) must request that the U.N. (1) review the WHO's response to COVID-19, and (2) recommend actions to improve future responses and ensure WHO accountability for identified failures. The Representative shall seek a global ban on wet markets (markets where animals of uncertified origin and health are sold in unhygienic conditions, dead or alive, for human consumption).