UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 15 -- The WHO Pandemic Agreement still cannot be opened for signature, and a General Assembly vote on Monday showed how far apart the countries holding it up remain: 153 backed a new pandemic declaration, three voted against it, and one of the three was the United States.

The declaration was meant to pass by consensus at a high-level meeting on September 25. Objections from the United States and a few other states blocked that, UN News reported, and sent it back to the General Assembly floor, where it was adopted by 153 votes to three. Argentina, Israel and the United States voted no. New Zealand and Paraguay abstained.

The US representative had cited "divisive ideologies that lack definitional consensus" and the te...