President Joe Biden signed an executive order on his first day in office to bring the United States back into the World health Organization. U.S. public health expert Fauci said the Biden Administration‘s decision was the right one. Critics say, however, that the WHO has succumbed to political pressure from Beijing and bears unshirkable responsibility for the global spread of the Epidemic, and some Americans have expressed fears that a global outbreak similar to the new coronavirus could resurface.
One of the first things President Biden did after being sworn in on Jan. 20 was to sign a series of executive orders that repealed or suspended a series of executive orders signed by his predecessor, Donald Trump, during his presidency. This includes a retraction of the decision that the United States will withdraw from the World Health Organization, an agency of the United Nations, on July 1 of this year.
Fauci: U.S. return to “WHO” is the right decision
Biden also appointed Dr. Anthony Fauci, a world-renowned public health expert, as his chief medical adviser, who will lead the U.S. health delegation to the WHO’s executive board.
On Thursday (Jan. 21), Fauci thanked the World Health Organization on behalf of the U.S. government for its leadership in the global response to the New Coronavirus pandemic and praised WHO for its “tireless collaboration with countries in the fight against the New Coronavirus epidemic.
“In such difficult circumstances, WHO has brought together the global scientific and research and development community to accelerate the pace of vaccines, treatments and diagnostics,” Fauci told a meeting of the WHO Executive Council.
U.S. media say the Biden administration is moving significantly away from former President Donald Trump’s line of refusing international cooperation in the response to the New crown outbreak. Earlier last year, Trump harshly attacked the WHO and informed the United Nations that the U.S. would withdraw from the organization.
Amesh A. Adalja, MD, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, told Voice of America that it is critical that the U.S. rejoin the WHO. It was the wrong decision to leave the WHO at that Time during the new coronavirus pandemic.
However, Dr. Adalja also noted that it is equally important that the U.S. seek to understand what happened in the early days of the New coronavirus outbreak, the role played by the WHO and China, and the lack of transparency in some aspects of the outbreak.
“Only by involving the United States fully in the operations of the WHO can we help ensure that its transparency becomes the norm,” he said.
Critics: “WHO” was “complicit” in Beijing’s early cover-up of the outbreak
U.S. activists have warned that the World Health Organization is not playing the leadership role it should be in the new coronavirus outbreak, but has instead bowed to pressure from Beijing to adopt an appeasement policy toward the Chinese government.
Dr. Yang Jianli, founder of the Washington-based NGO Citizen Power, told VOA that the Chinese government’s mismanagement and lax approach to controlling the epidemic in the early stages of the pandemic, and even its attempts to cover up the origins of the virus, disrupted the lives of people around the world, killing millions of people and causing trillions of dollars in economic damage.
“The World Health Organization has been complicit in Beijing’s role in triggering the public health crisis that is the worldwide pandemic of the new coronavirus. This fact demonstrates that the WHO’s attitude of taking Beijing’s lead is costing global public health dearly,” he said.
Yang argued that at the beginning of the epidemic, the WHO urged member countries not to impose travel restrictions, which allowed the virus to spread rapidly and uncontrollably around the world. If Beijing had acted initially, it could have prevented more people from becoming infected.
Back to “WHO” and the American public cries out in fear
How does the American public, which has been suffering from the impact of the new crown epidemic for a year, feel about the U.S. decision to return to the WHO? On Twitter, many American people expressed their views. Jane Miller said, “This is not a good idea, the anniversary of the new crown epidemic has just passed, and the WHO said at the time that the new crown virus will not be transmitted from person to person”. It’s too bad that the WHO is so wrong about the epidemic, they’re being extremely politicized,” said Joe. Freedom First is concerned that a global outbreak like the New Guinea outbreak could happen again, saying, “All of this has happened before and it will happen again.”
Brett Schaefer, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank, recently told the media that the WHO’s failures during the new coronavirus outbreak cannot be allowed to repeat themselves. “Without major reforms at the WHO, the organization will once again lead to disastrous failures around the world, especially in those poor countries responding to future public health crises.”
The international regulatory affairs expert called on President Biden to demand a firm and public commitment from the rest of the world to support reform of the WHO. Among other things, the Health Emergency Program, which is at the heart of WHO’s pandemic response, must be independent and free from political pressure. In addition, WHO should reallocate resources to respond more effectively to the current new crown outbreak and any future pandemic.
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