According to a health law expert familiar with the discussions, members of Donald Trump's presidential transition team are paving the way for the United States to leave the WHO on the first day of his second term.
Members of Donald Trump's presidential transition team are laying the groundwork for the United States to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) on the first day of his second term, according to a health law expert familiar with the talks.
“I have it on good authority that he plans to retire, probably on the first day or very early in his administration,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health at Georgetown University in Washington and director of the WHO Collaborating Center on National and Global Health Law. .
The Financial Times was the first to report the plans, citing two experts. The second expert, former White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha, was not immediately available for comment.
Trump's transition team did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The plan, which aligns with Trump's long-standing criticism of the U.N. health agency, would mark a dramatic shift in U.S. global health policy and further isolate Washington from international efforts to combat pandemics.
Trump has nominated several critics of the organization to top public health positions, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a vaccine skeptic who is running for secretary of Health and Human Services, who oversees all major health agencies. of the United States, including the CDC and the FDA.
Trump began the process of withdrawing from the WHO in 2020, which lasted a year, but six months later his successor, President Joe Biden, reversed the decision.
The president-elect has argued that the agency did not hold China responsible for the early spread of COVID-19. He has repeatedly called the WHO a puppet of Beijing and promised to redirect American contributions to national health initiatives.