US withdraws from World Health Organization

According to CNN, President Donald Trump decided to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization (WHO) on the first day of his inauguration. An important move to sever ties with the United Nations health agency, on the first day of his inauguration.

President Trump has long been critical of the WHO, and in 2020 he initiated the process of withdrawing the United States from the WHO in the final months of his first term. Just six months later, when Joe Biden took over the White House, the process was abandoned.

At the time of the 2020 announcement, the text of the Trump administration's executive order cited "the WHO's mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that originated in Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its failure to demonstrate independence from improper political influence by WHO member states" as the reason for the US withdrawal.

“It’s a big deal,” Mr. Trump told an aide as he began signing the executive order, pointing to his 2020 decision and his belief that the United States paid too much to the organization compared to other countries.

The order also states that the WHO “continues to demand disproportionately large payments from the United States.”

Previously, after winning a second presidential term, Mr. Trump continued to appoint many individuals who were dissatisfied with WHO to leadership positions in the health sector.

Notable among them is Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long publicly expressed his opposition to vaccines.

The US's actual withdrawal from the WHO is considered a relatively major turning point for US global health policy, further isolating Washington from international efforts to prevent the pandemic.