Trump Exit US From World Health Pandemic Reforms

 Friday, the administration of President Donald Trump said that the United States was rejecting changes that were agreed upon last year for the World Health Organization's pandemic response because they were against the country's sovereignty. 

The State Department stated that the language from last year would still have been binding on the United States when Trump took office on January 20. However, upon his return to office, Trump immediately initiated the United States' withdrawal from the UN body. Robert F.,

Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio The changes "risk unwarranted interference with our national sovereign right to make health policy," according to Kennedy Jr., a vaccine critic for a long time. In a joint statement, they stated.'' 

"We will put Americans first in all our actions and we will not tolerate international policies that infringe on Americans' speech, privacy, or personal liberties." 

Rubio and Kennedy separated the United States from a set of changes to the International Health Regulations that were agreed upon last year at the World Health Assembly in Geneva and provide a legal framework for the fight against diseases. 

In a statement that was published on X, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated, "We regret the US decision to reject the amendments. 

He said that the amendments "are clear about member states sovereignty" and that the WHO cannot order lockdowns or other measures of a similar nature. 

A "commitment to solidarity and equity" was one of the changes, and a new group would study the needs of developing nations in future emergencies. 

Countries can express reservations about the amendments until Saturday. In Britain and Australia, both of which have left-leaning governments, conservative activists and vaccine skeptics have waged public campaigns against the changes. 

The Assembly's failure to secure a new global agreement on pandemics led to the creation of the amendments. 

The majority of the world came to an agreement in May, but the United States did not participate because it was withdrawing from the World Health Organization. 

Under then-president Joe Biden, the United States participated in the May-June 2024 negotiations. However, the United States stated that it could not support a consensus because it demanded protections for US intellectual property rights related to vaccine development. 

Antony Blinken, Rubio's predecessor, had praised the amendments as progress. “Fail to adequately address the WHO’s susceptibility to the political influence and censorship — most notably from China — during outbreaks,” Rubio and Kennedy stated in their rejection of the amendments. According to Ghebreyesus of the 

WHO, the organization is "impartial and works with all countries to improve people's health."