Trump's WHO exit: A boost for anti-vaccine movements?
The collapse of a world based on knowledge. This is how Dr. Rafał Sutkowski from the College of Family Physicians Association describes Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the USA from the World Health Organization. He is concerned that anti-vaccine and anti-science movements are gaining strength, undermining trust in institutions and experts.
- The world we consider rational is symbolically departing and dying. I anticipate a political shift towards abandoning a sensible approach to public health in favor of political calculations - Dr. Michał Sutkowski from the College of Family Physicians Association and a Presidential Council for Health Protection member tells WP.
In one of his first decisions, President Donald Trump signed executive orders to initiate the withdrawal of the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO). The president did not shy away from sarcasm: - Oh, this is something big. They wanted us to come back so much, so we'll see what happens - he said while signing.
Dr. Sutkowski emphasizes that the United States will always be an important player on the international stage, and their presence in organizations like WHO is significant. He suggests that reforming WHO would be a better solution than withdrawing from it. - This decision will destabilize the organization, which largely deals with health. It will impact global progress in combating various diseases and epidemics. We, too, will be less resilient - he underscores.
WHO loses over a billion dollars. Trump jokes: well, we'll see
The president criticized the organization, calling it "corrupt" and "incompetent." He accused WHO of bias towards China in the way guidelines were issued during the COVID-19 pandemic. The order stated that the withdrawal was due to "unfairly burdensome payments" made by the United States to WHO, which is part of the United Nations.
Under Biden’s administration, the US remained the largest sponsor, contributing nearly one-fifth of the organization's budget, which totaled $6.8 billion. Some American experts suggest that this move could undermine progress in fighting infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, HIV, and AIDS.
"This is a catastrophic presidential decision. Withdrawal is a painful wound for global health, but an even deeper wound for the USA," said Lawrence Gostin, a global public health expert and Georgetown University professor, to the British BBC television service.
Triumph for the anti-vaccine movement?
Dr. Michał Sutkowski fears that the president's decision will be seized by anti-vaccine circles in Poland. Especially since Donald Trump had already nominated Robert Kennedy Jr., known for disparaging vaccinations, to the position of health chief during the campaign. The Polish expert believes that both the withdrawal from WHO and Kennedy's nomination are harmful from a public health perspective.
- Of course, this will be picked up. They will raise their heads. All those who survived COVID in good health because they were beautiful and young. They will say: "Well, why did we get vaccinated? You exposed us to various things". These are complete absurdities because we have no memory of what happened and what could have happened without the implementation of restrictions, the doctor adds.
Let's add that Poland's contribution to the World Health Organization was about $2 million annually. These figures were provided by the Ministry of Health following a parliamentary inquiry by Dominika Chorosińska. Meanwhile, the USA contributed $500 million to the WHO budget.
The order stated that the United States is withdrawing from WHO "due to the organization's mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that erupted in Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, the lack of adopting urgently needed reforms, and the inability to demonstrate independence from improper political influences of WHO's member states".
Let us recall that during his first presidency, Trump accused WHO of concealing information about the COVID-19 pandemic and acting in the interest of China. He claimed that the organization declared a pandemic too late and trusted Chinese authorities too much, who - according to him - deliberately hid the scale of the threat. - WHO became a puppet of China - Trump said in April 2020.
