Report: World Health Assembly Unlikely to Pass Pandemic Treaty, but Biden Amendments Are on the Table

According to a flustered report at the Washington Post on Sunday, the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) might not be able to muster the support it needs for a sweeping “global pandemic treaty” at the World Health Assembly currently in progress, but amendments proposed by the Biden administration to reduce the influence of member state governments over W.H.O.’s disease outbreak declarations are still on the table.The Washington Post grumbled that W.H.O. is facing a “visceral, passionate online backlash that falsely accuses the World Health Organization of conspiring to take power from national governments.”The article treated concerns about damage to national sovereignty from a pandemic treaty or W.H.O. rules changes as wholly irrational, the work of “conspiracy theorists” in the U.S., Canada, and Europe whose “fear-mongering” is “so far-fetched that they are an inversion of reality.” There is also some backlash from Russia and China, where critics claim W.H.O. reforms could be a power grab by Western countries hoping to undermine authoritarian regimes.Lodged in this sea of invective were acknowledgments that the great global pandemic treaty will not be coming up for a vote at this year’s World Health Assembly, or even reaching its final form. There are good reasons to be wary of granting more authority to a World Health Organization where the political demands of the Chinese Communist Party are prioritized above the health of millions of Taiwanese citizens.Defenders of the global pandemic treaty and IHR amendments claim there is nothing to fear because W.H.O. does not have enforcement powers.