Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued a statement rejecting the World Health Organization’s proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations.

“These regulations establish the legal framework that gives countries rights and responsibilities for managing public health events with global impact,” RFK Jr. said.

“The deadline to reject these amendments is next week – and we are rejecting them,” he continued.

“The proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations open the door to the kind of narrative management, propaganda, and censorship that we saw during the COVID pandemic,” the health secretary wrote.

“The United States can cooperate with other nations without jeopardizing our civil liberties, without undermining our Constitution, and without ceding away America’s treasured sovereignty,” he added.

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Watch the full statement:

“The Department of State, in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), transmitted the official U.S. rejection of the 2024 amendments to the International Heath Regulations (IHR) (2005),” a press release from the Department of Health and Human Services read.

“This action delivers on our promise to the American people – to fight for Americans in the international system, protect our national sovereignty, and prevent international bureaucrats from shaping U.S. domestic policies,” it continued.

“The International Health Regulations (IHR) are a legal framework of countries’ rights & obligations in handling public health emergencies with potential to cross borders,” the WHO noted.

More from HHS:

In 2024, the World Health Assembly (WHA) adopted amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) that significantly expanded the World Health Organization’s (WHO) authority over international public health responses.  Developed without adequate public input, these amendments expand the role of the WHO in public health emergencies, create additional authorities for the WHO for shaping pandemic declarations, and promote WHO’s ability to facilitate “equitable access” of health commodities. These amendments have undue influence on our domestic health responses from WHO directives. They also fail to adequately address the WHO’s susceptibility to the political influence and censorship – most notably from China – during outbreaks.  These amendments were set to become binding on the United States regardless of our withdrawal from the WHO.

Terminology throughout the 2024 amendments is vague and broad, risking WHO-coordinated international responses that focus on political issues like solidarity, rather than rapid and effective actions.  The amendments also suggest that countries develop capabilities that jeopardize management and dissemination controls over public health information, potentially stifling valuable scientific debate.  Furthermore, these revisions compel countries to adopt digital health documents.  Our Agencies have been and will continue to be clear:  we will put Americans first in all our actions and we will not tolerate international policies that infringe on Americans’ speech, privacy, or personal liberties.  These amendments risk unwarranted interference with our national sovereign right to make health policy.  We are proud to have worked jointly to ensure public health policy continues to be dictated by the values and will of the American people, not unelected global actors.

World Health Organization (WHO) member countries in May approved the adoption of its pandemic treaty.

World Health Organization Officially Adopts ‘Pandemic Treaty’

The agreement was adopted at the 78th session of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.

“The world is safer today thanks to the leadership, collaboration and commitment of our Member States to adopt the historic WHO Pandemic Agreement,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, according to NPR.

“The Agreement is a victory for public health, science and multilateral action. It will ensure we, collectively, can better protect the world from future pandemic threats. It is also a recognition by the international community that our citizens, societies and economies must not be left vulnerable to again suffer losses like those endured during COVID-19,” he added.

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Notably, the United States did not attend the meeting because of President Trump’s intent to withdraw from WHO membership.

“Like many legacy institutions, the WHO has become mired in bureaucratic bloat, entrenched paradigms, conflicts of interest, and international power politics. While the United States has provided the lion’s share of the organization’s funding historically, other countries such as China have exerted undue influence over its operations in ways that serve their own interests and not particularly the interests of the global public,” RFK Jr. said. 

“Global cooperation on health is still critically important to @POTUS and myself, but it isn’t working very well under the WHO as the failures of the COVID era demonstrate. I urge the world’s health ministers and the WHO to take our withdrawal from the organization as a wake-up call,” he added.

Check it out:

Read the pandemic treaty HERE.

 

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