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Members of Trump's team told the experts that they intend to announce a withdrawal from the global health body on inauguration day, January 20, the FT wrote on Sunday. Some in the team reportedly want the US to stay in the WHO but push to reform it. However, another group, which hopes to cut ties, is reportedly winning the argument.
The transition team wants Trump to withdraw from the WHO on the first day because of the "symbolism" of reversing Joe Biden's own inauguration-day move, FT wrote, citing Ashish Jha, former White House Covid response coordinator to the US President.
On January 20, 2021, Biden restarted relations with the UN body, after his then-predecessor Trump initiated a withdrawal process in line with his criticism of the WHO's handling of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
"America is going to leave a huge vacuum in global health financing and leadership. I see no one that is going to fill the breach," Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health at Georgetown Law told FT. The plan to withdraw "on day one" would be "catastrophic", he added.
The WHO is a UN body that acts as a coordinating authority on international health issues. The agency gets its funding from dues-paying member states as well as voluntary contributions. The US has been one of the organization's largest donors for decades, and, according to its data, is currently the second-largest contributor among its member states.
In 2020, Trump accused the WHO of being under China's control amid the coronavirus pandemic. The president claimed that Beijing had pressured the organization to "mislead the world" about the virus and pledged to direct US funds to other global public health charities instead.
Under a 1948 Congressional resolution, the US can withdraw from the WHO but must give a year's notice and should pay outstanding fees. The Trump team, however, did not comment directly on the potential withdrawal, noted FT.
In November, Trump nominated long-time vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy to become US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). RFK Jr. was among the vocal critics of the WHO-recommended Covid-19 response measures imposed by governments around the world, namely strict lockdowns and the introduction of rapidly developed vaccines.
Kennedy's nomination has yet to be approved by the Senate.
Reader Comments
It didn't talk about Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO today and during the 'covid epidemic'. This guy isn't a doctor and has spent his early career as an 'Ethiopian Warlord' [Link] who cozied up to the globalists.
It didn't talk about Brock Chisholm, first director general of the WHO, "...a Canadian psychiatrist and an outspoken eugenicist..."
"Before his tenure at the WHO, Dr. Chisholm voiced concerns about overpopulation, and was an ardent proponent of eugenics. During his leadership, "family planning" became part of the WHO's central discussion, paving the way for controversial population control measures" [Link]
For Trump to make such a move, he would be going against the very United Nations that the U.S. created during WW2 out of the existing League of Nations. Would he do that? That is some serious isolation - I am glad of it, but doubtful at this moment.