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Two dozen governors have warned against a pandemic agreement they say would give the World Health Organization ‘s ‘uncontrollable’ boss Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus sweeping new powers in an emergency. In a letter to Joe Biden , they say the president should not sign the deal, as it would enable the WHO to declare global health emergencies and make the US impose lockdowns and mandate vaccines.
Health officials from the WHO’s 194 member states are still negotiating the text of the agreement, which is designed to boost cooperation against future pathogens after coronavirus killed millions. The deal, an update to existing health rules on outbreaks and a new legally-binding treaty, could be formalized at the May 27-June 1 World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. It would represent perhaps the biggest increase to the agency’s reach since it was created in 1948.
The governors, including Ron DeSantis of Florida , and Greg Abbott of Texas , say it would ‘undermine national sovereignty, infringe upon states’ rights, and jeopardize constitutionally guaranteed freedoms.’ ‘The objective of these instruments is to empower the WHO, particularly its uncontrollable Director-General, with the authority to restrict the rights of US citizens,’ says the letter dated May 22.
Under the deal, Americans could forfeit basic ‘freedoms such as speech, privacy, travel, choice of medical care, and informed consent, thus violating our Constitution’s core principles,’ they say. Instead of US lawmakers setting health rules in a crisis, Tedros would be able to tell US citizens what to do, the letter says. This could include ‘mandates regarding medical treatments,’ they add.
‘Public health policy is a matter reserved for the states, not the federal government, and certainly not international bodies like the WHO,’ says the letter. The WHO already has binding rules known as the International Health Regulations, which were agreed in 2005 after the 2002/3 SARS outbreak. They set out countries’ obligations when faced with a border-hopping health crisis. While they were adequate for a regional crisis such as Ebola, the WHO says they were no match for a COVID-type calamity.
That outbreak created a ‘vaccine apartheid,’ where citizens of rich countries were able to get life-saving injections, says Tedros. Article 12 of the controversial draft treaty envisages reserving around a fifth of tests, treatments, and vaccines for the WHO to hand out to poorer countries. It would be only the world’s second such health accord after a 2003 deal on tobacco control, which battled smoking globally with taxes and advertising rules.
Writing for Al Jazeera this week, Tedros said the deal was a ‘life-saving tool that will ensure no one is left behind when the next pandemic strikes.’ Politicians should choose ‘global cooperation, not narrow nationalism,’ he said. The Biden administration is understood to have its own concerns about the deal, which is still being hammered out in Geneva.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says US firms could lose their intellectual property rights to competitors such as China under the agreement. Addressing Congress on Wednesday, Blinken said there was ‘no consensus’ on the deal. ‘Where it currently stands is that it seems very unlikely that negotiations could conclude successfully in the next few days,’ he said.
The six-day assembly is set to be attended by some 100 ministers. It could define the legacy of Tedros, who is mid-way through his second term and became a household name during COVID. Negotiations have been dogged by rifts between richer and poorer countries’ positions that have confounded mediators.
The treaty talks missed a key deadline of May 10 and all but collapsed, prompting Tedros to convene emergency talks last week to boost morale, sources said. Besides the sharing of drugs and vaccines, one of the most contested aspects is financing, including whether to set up a dedicated fund or draw on existing international funds. Talks have dragged on late into the night, getting stuck on technicalities. Meanwhile, conservatives in Britain, the US and elsewhere say the deal threatens sovereignty, which the WHO strongly denies. While parts of the reforms are likely to be agreed in time, other elements are likely to be delayed.
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