A year since President Donald Trump announced that he would pull the U.S. from the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. is officially exiting the health agency.
In a joint statement on Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said WHO "abandoned its core mission and acted repeatedly against the interests" of the U.S. They claimed the agency held back crucial information that could have saved American lives during the COVID pandemic.
"We will get our flag back for the Americans who died alone in nursing homes, the small businesses devastated by WHO-driven restrictions and the American lives shattered by this organization’s inactivity. Our withdrawal is for them," the statement said.
Meanwhile, the global agency has pointed out that under a longstanding joint resolution of U.S. Congress, the U.S. is only allowed to withdraw after fulfilling its financial obligations for the current fiscal year.
As of Jan. 20, according to a WHO document (PDF), the U.S. has not paid its dues for 2024 and 2025, which, according to WHO's summary financial documents, total $260 million. The organization has also noted ambiguity around the "current fiscal year" requirement, which could be interpreted to include part or all of 2026.
Member states plan to discuss the U.S. departure and how it will be handled at the upcoming WHO executive board meeting next month, according to Reuters.
Trump originally gave notice that the U.S. would pull out from the WHO on the first day of his second term with an executive order (EO). During the past year, the U.S. stopped funding the agency, withdrew all personnel from the WHO and began pivoting activities to direct bilateral engagements with other countries and organizations, a White House press release on Thursday said. Going forward, the U.S. government will prioritize emergency response, biosecurity coordination and health innovation "to protect America first while delivering benefits to partners around the world," the announcement said.
Global health experts have cautioned that the move will wreak havoc on both global and American public health, arguing it leaves U.S. agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health without crucial surveillance data and will complicate future efforts to prevent pandemics.
The move is a “shortsighted and misguided abandonment of our global health commitments,” and “scientifically reckless,” Ronald G. Nahass, M.D., president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said in a statement on Thursday. “Global cooperation and communication are critical to keep our own citizens protected because germs do not respect borders.”
The U.S. would no longer participate in the Global Influenza Surveillance & Response System, he added, “a vital platform” to monitor flu spread and help update annual vaccines. “This will severely hamper efforts to match vaccines to circulating strains of flu.”
The U.S. withdrawal also has budgetary implications, given that country is the biggest financial backer of the WHO. After Trump’s EO, the agency had to scale back its work and cut its management team by half. The WHO is also expected to cut over 2,000 jobs by the middle of this year.
Trump’s EO claimed the WHO mishandled COVID-19, failed to adopt “urgently needed reforms,” and did not show independence from the “inappropriate” political influence of WHO members. The order also complained that the WHO demands “unfairly onerous payments” from the U.S. compared to other countries, like China, with larger populations.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with statements from the White House on the withdrawal.