Quotes
It’s a cataclysmic presidential decision. Withdrawal is a grievous wound to world health, but a still deeper wound to the US,
he added
But who’s going to enforce the obligation? Is Donald Trump going to be cowed by global norms around these things?”
Jha askedWHO is a pretty essential organization — and with America’s withdrawal, it creates a political vacuum that only one country can fill — and that is China,
Jha said in an interview with CNN on MondayTrump isn’t waiting a year as Congress required. He’s unraveling US engagement & funding now. That’s unlawful & a grave strategic error,
he addedAmericans have been made less safe by the president’s action today,
Bollyky said
This is a government in transition, and as a government in transition they need the time and space to make their own decisions, to make that transition,
WHO spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris said last weekThis will really leave our agencies – like the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and NIH [National Institutes of Health] flying blind,
he addedOooh, that’s a big one,
the newly inaugurated US president said as he approved the document after arriving back at the White House
They wanted us back so badly so we’ll see what happens,
Trump said in the Oval Office, referring to the WHO, perhaps hinting the US might return eventuallyIn addition, the WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments,
the order stated
The United States noticed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020 due to the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states,
the US said in a statementWe paid $500 million to the World Health Organization when I was here, and I terminated it,
Trump saidWorld health ripped us off,
Trump said at a news conference announcing the day’s executive orders
WHO is in many ways the eyes and the ears for the U.S. and other countries on health emergencies,
Thomas Bollyky, director of global health for the Council on Foreign Relations, told the health publication STAT in an interviewFor the U.S., the implications are ceding that role to others ― China in particular ― and taking itself out of influencing international negotiations,
Jen Kates, senior vice president and director of global health and HIV policy for KFF, a nonpartisan source on health issues, told HuffPost via email
There are places where we just can’t send CDC epidemiologists, they wouldn’t be safe,
said Dr. Tom Frieden, who headed the agency for eight years under the Obama administration
A U.S. withdrawal from WHO would make the world far less healthy and safe,
said Lawrence Gostin, director of the WHO Collaborating Center on Global Health Law at Georgetown University
Withdrawing from WHO not only cuts crucial funding from the agency, but it also surrenders our role as a global health leader and silences America’s voice in critical decisions affecting global health security,
Frieden said in a statement
We really believe in cooperation ... and from our side, we are ready to work together,
said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a December news conferenceIt would make it more likely that we could see novel diseases spinning out of control, crossing borders, and potentially sparking a pandemic,
he said