Tuesday, January 28, 2025 - U.S. public health officials have been told to stop working with the World Health Organization, effective immediately.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official, John Nkengasong,
sent a memo to senior leaders at the agency on Sunday night telling them that
all agency staff who work with the WHO must immediately stop their
collaborations and “await further guidance.”
The Associated Press viewed a copy of Nkengasong’s memo, which said the
stop-work policy applied to “all CDC staff engaging with WHO through technical
working groups, coordinating centers, advisory boards, cooperative agreements
or other means in person or virtual.” It also says CDC staff are not
allowed to visit WHO offices.
President Trump last week issued an executive order to begin the
process of withdrawing the U.S. from WHO, but that did not take immediate
effect.
Leaving WHO requires the approval of Congress and that the U.S. meets
its financial obligations for the current fiscal year. The U.S. also must
provide a one-year notice.
His administration also told federal health agencies to stop most
communications with the public through at least the end of the month.
“Stopping communications and meetings with WHO is a big problem,”
said Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, a University of Southern California public health
expert who collaborates with WHO on work against sexually transmitted
infections.
“People thought there would be a slow withdrawal. This has really caught
everyone with their pants down,” said Klausner, who said he learned of it from
someone at CDC.
“Talking to WHO is a two-way street,” he added, noting that WHO and U.S.
health officials benefit from each other’s expertise. The collaboration allows
the U.S. to learn about new tests and treatments as well as about emerging
outbreaks — information “which can help us protect Americans abroad and at
home.”
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