Following up on this rhetoric-heavy post concerning lack of follow through in this Administration, the World Health Organization (WHO) is finally in receipt of a letter announcing the American intent to withdraw in a year from the organization:
The United States officially notified the United Nations on Tuesday of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, a White House official said.
The notice, which comes as the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread around the globe, was submitted to the U.N. secretary-general and to Congress. The withdrawal is expected to take effect July 6, 2021.
A spokesperson told NBC News that the WHO was aware of reports but declined to comment further. [NBC News]
I was wrong; sometimes this Administration does what it says it will do. Note the date when it becomes effective; any country withdrawing from the WHO requires a year of delay from date of notification.
I’ll omit passing judgment on this move, because the Republicans are doing it for me:
Lawmakers from both parties, including Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., swiftly criticized the move.
“I disagree with the president’s decision,” Alexander, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said in a statement. “Certainly there needs to be a good, hard look at mistakes the World Health Organization might have made in connection with coronavirus, but the time to do that is after the crisis has been dealt with, not in the middle of it.
“Withdrawing U.S. membership could, among other things, interfere with clinical trials that are essential to the development of vaccines, which citizens of the United States as well as others in the world need,” he added. “And withdrawing could make it harder to work with other countries to stop viruses before they get to the United States.”
Hopefully, a vaccine or treatment for Covid-19 will have been developed before a year has passed. However, Senator Alexander may be referring to other hypothetical new pathogens.
If President Trump wins reelection in November, will the letter be withdrawn?
