The Trump administration filed a notice to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization, senior officials with the administration confirmed to various news outlets.
The move has been received negatively by key Democratic and Republican lawmakers, as well as leading health organizations.
The withdrawal notice was submitted to the U.N. secretary-general and will take effect July 6, 2021. Joe Biden, if elected president in November, has already said he will rescind the withdrawal if elected.
A U.S. withdrawal from WHO will have “devastating effects” on global health initiatives to combat infectious diseases, the Global Health Council said.
“Thousands of people have spoken, from health experts to heads of state and heroes on the frontlines: the world needs WHO,” Loyce Pace, president and executive director of the Global Health Council, said. “This move signals a dangerous gamble in the midst of a pandemic we have yet to conquer, and without a viable alternative to WHO.”
Pace said the departure of the United States will limit global access to essential guidance, supplies, and treatments or vaccines. The council is calling on the U.S. Congress to investigate the effects of this decision and mitigate its impact.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chairman of the Senate health committee, also disagrees with the decision to withdraw.
“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,” Alexander said. “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. And withdrawing could make it harder to work with other countries to stop viruses before they get to the United States.”
Alexander said that if the administration has specific ideas for reforms, it should submit those recommendations to Congress.
Tom Frieden, president and CEO of global health initiative Resolve To Save Lives and a former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, said leaving WHO does not serve the interest of Americans.
Every country and organization needs to review its response to COVID-19 so it can do better in the future,” Frieden tweeted. “Leaving WHO does not serve the interests of people in the U.S. or anywhere in the world … WHO is essential to responding to COVID-19 and to broader global health protection.”
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) also expressed his disapproval of the decision through Twitter.
“Congress received notification that POTUS officially withdrew the U.S. from the @WHO in the midst of a pandemic. To call Trump’s response to COVID chaotic & incoherent doesn’t do it justice. This won’t protect American lives or interests—it leaves Americans sick & America alone,” Menendez tweeted.