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On the first day of the current administration, an executive order was announced terminating the participation of the USA in the WHO. This was broadly denounced as an incredibly stupid move. Aside from coordinating a global response to pandemics, outbreaks, the studies thereof, it has annual meetings to try to formulate the annual flu vaccines - said meeting happens next month.
The reason why? A certain person doesn't think the world did a good job with its Covid-19 response. This was at the same time that said person postulated that drinking bleach and exposing your innards to UV light would be a good cure, not to mention the other quack cures he put forth that directly led to deaths of people in the USA and perhaps elsewhere in the world.
From the article: "While the United States is walking away from the organization, a senior official with the Department of Health and Human Services told reporters on Thursday that the Trump administration was considering some type of narrow, limited engagement with W.H.O. global networks that track infectious diseases, including influenza."
and "On Thursday, the administration said that all U.S. government funding to the organization had been terminated, and that all assigned federal employees and contractors had been recalled from its Geneva headquarters and its offices worldwide.
The up-in-the-air status of the flu vaccine is just one of countless global health matters that are left hanging in the balance by the United States’ withdrawal. Global health experts are deeply concerned that if a novel bug similar to the coronavirus emerges, a lack of international coordination will lead to death and disaster." Good thing that novel bugs never happen!
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/us/politics/united-states-withdraws-world-health-organization.html?unlocked_article_code=1.GlA.ey5P.2X66jrh_mNPI&smid=url-share
https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/01/23/1226253/us-formally-withdraws-from-who
The Slashdot story has an interesting discussion on population and farming. You probably ought to set the right filter slider to exclude -1 rated comments.
That was Thursday. On Friday, the State of California formally joined the WHO. Governor Gavin travelled to the Davos conference in Switzerland and was scheduled to speak, but the State Department quashed that. He met with the Director-General of the WHO and his office issued a statement:
“As President Trump withdraws the United States from the World Health Organization, California is stepping up under Governor Gavin Newsom — becoming the first, and currently the only, state to join the WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network (GOARN), strengthening public health preparedness and rapid response coordination,” Newsom’s office said in a statement.
...
“The Trump administration’s withdrawal from WHO is a reckless decision that will hurt all Californians and Americans,” Newsom said in a statement. “California will not bear witness to the chaos this decision will bring. We will continue to foster partnerships across the globe and remain at the forefront of public health preparedness, including through our membership as the only state in WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network.”
Go, Gavin! Here's hoping that other states will step up and join the WHO and flip a massive bird to the Feds. I would probably die laughing if all 50 states plus the territories joined up!
Gavin has also been instrumental in forming a "coalition of states in launching both the West Coast Health Alliance and the Governors Public Health Alliance to lead public health policies that diverge from that of the White House."
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5703447-who-gavin-newsom-california/
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/01/23/2350246/california-becomes-first-state-to-join-who-disease-network-after-us-exit
The reason why? A certain person doesn't think the world did a good job with its Covid-19 response. This was at the same time that said person postulated that drinking bleach and exposing your innards to UV light would be a good cure, not to mention the other quack cures he put forth that directly led to deaths of people in the USA and perhaps elsewhere in the world.
From the article: "While the United States is walking away from the organization, a senior official with the Department of Health and Human Services told reporters on Thursday that the Trump administration was considering some type of narrow, limited engagement with W.H.O. global networks that track infectious diseases, including influenza."
and "On Thursday, the administration said that all U.S. government funding to the organization had been terminated, and that all assigned federal employees and contractors had been recalled from its Geneva headquarters and its offices worldwide.
The up-in-the-air status of the flu vaccine is just one of countless global health matters that are left hanging in the balance by the United States’ withdrawal. Global health experts are deeply concerned that if a novel bug similar to the coronavirus emerges, a lack of international coordination will lead to death and disaster." Good thing that novel bugs never happen!
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/us/politics/united-states-withdraws-world-health-organization.html?unlocked_article_code=1.GlA.ey5P.2X66jrh_mNPI&smid=url-share
https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/01/23/1226253/us-formally-withdraws-from-who
The Slashdot story has an interesting discussion on population and farming. You probably ought to set the right filter slider to exclude -1 rated comments.
That was Thursday. On Friday, the State of California formally joined the WHO. Governor Gavin travelled to the Davos conference in Switzerland and was scheduled to speak, but the State Department quashed that. He met with the Director-General of the WHO and his office issued a statement:
“As President Trump withdraws the United States from the World Health Organization, California is stepping up under Governor Gavin Newsom — becoming the first, and currently the only, state to join the WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network (GOARN), strengthening public health preparedness and rapid response coordination,” Newsom’s office said in a statement.
...
“The Trump administration’s withdrawal from WHO is a reckless decision that will hurt all Californians and Americans,” Newsom said in a statement. “California will not bear witness to the chaos this decision will bring. We will continue to foster partnerships across the globe and remain at the forefront of public health preparedness, including through our membership as the only state in WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network.”
Go, Gavin! Here's hoping that other states will step up and join the WHO and flip a massive bird to the Feds. I would probably die laughing if all 50 states plus the territories joined up!
Gavin has also been instrumental in forming a "coalition of states in launching both the West Coast Health Alliance and the Governors Public Health Alliance to lead public health policies that diverge from that of the White House."
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5703447-who-gavin-newsom-california/
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/26/01/23/2350246/california-becomes-first-state-to-join-who-disease-network-after-us-exit
