epidemic agreementThis initiative, which aims to coordinate international cooperation during a disease outbreak to prevent the next, has received significant support from the President Joe Biden and Democrats, despite a rocky road to gaining support from other WHO member states.

But the new Trump administration, along with Republicans in Congress, will likely take a more critical approach to international public health in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the WHO’s failure to inform the world of its severity. Chinese In January and February 2020.

“I expect there is no way that the pandemic agreements will get to the finish line, be ratified, or be agreed upon by the United States, which would really bring the agreement to its knees, honestly,” said Jennifer Kates, an expert on global health policy in healthcare. think tank KFF told reporters on Friday.

aim The purpose of the pandemic agreement (formally known as the Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response Agreement) is to address flaws in global communications, surveillance and supply chains exposed by the international community’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most controversial Some aspects of the agreement were the allocation of financial responsibility for pandemic preparedness, including clearer access to pathogen research, vaccines, and antiviral treatments; This has increased intellectual property concerns among more economically developed countries.

The United States has been closely involved in pandemic agreement negotiations since the beginning of 2021, and Kates described the Biden administration as “very supportive” and “very interested” in the negotiation process.

“Not many Republicans in Congress,” Kates said.

one in september invoice The legislation, which requires Senate approval of “any contract or agreement on matters related to the pandemic” passed the House by a vote of 219 to 199. The legislation has been referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ahead of the 2024 elections.

Kates says Republicans have a history of being skeptical of international agreements in general, especially those that might infringe on state sovereignty.

Other WHO member states had similar concerns about the limits placed on national sovereignty in the original text of the agreement.

Although WHO characterized Due to sovereignty concerns, “fake news and disinformation and misinformation spreading left and right regarding pandemic agreement negotiations,” the draft text of the agreement was updated in December 2023 to emphasize that state parties would be protected under international law to “enact law.” “To implement the legislation in line with health policies.”

Even with these changes in place, disagreements among member states over the language and legal weight of the agreement during the final vote, which was expected to be held in May, led to the decision to postpone the final vote until May 2025.

Kates predicted that even if a new version of the pandemic agreement is adopted in an international vote next year, it will likely not be very successful if the United States does not participate, similar to the failure of the agreement. League of NationsInternational peace organization founded in the 1920s to prevent World War II.

The Senate is the only congressional body in the United States that approves treaties, making Republicans’ control over that body a major obstacle for supporters of the agreement.

WHO relationship in general

Although Trump said during the campaign that he had “the concept of a plan” for Obamacare reform, he and his team have offered few other significant policy proposals that would signal what to expect from health policy in his next administration, let alone on international public health issues. .

In May 2020, Trump threatened to withdraw U.S. membership in the WHO, along with its $400 million in funding, which accounts for about 15% of the organization’s operating budget. By June, Trump canceled $62 million in funding has been provided for WHO, and the US has set its withdrawal date as July 2021. Both of these decisions were quickly reversed by Biden.

Kates said he “expects the Trump administration to try to do this again,” which would be even more likely if there are Republican majorities in both houses of Congress.

Proposing broader reforms to the WHO and America’s relationship with the international organization was also a focus for Republicans in Congress during the Biden years.

Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, led the charge on the House side. reevaluate The US-WHO relationship in light of the organization’s role in obscuring China’s COVID-19 policy in the early stages of the outbreak.

Wenstrup, who is not seeking re-election in 2024, has stressed that the WHO must seek greater independence from the Chinese Communist Party, which will likely remain a goal of the next Trump administration.

While the subcommittee, which is part of the House Oversight Committee, does not have the authority to introduce legislation, America’s relationship with the WHO will likely be part of the subcommittee’s final report on its investigation into the origins of the coronavirus and pandemic-era policy. . The report is likely to be a springboard for the next legislative session.

Little is known about what Trump will choose on most health policy issues in his next administration because he and his team remained vague on the issue during the campaign, Larry Levitt, KFF’s vice president of health policy, told reporters Friday.

“A lot of what we have to go on is Trump’s record under the previous presidency as well as the proposals of Republicans and conservative groups in Congress,” Levitt said. “There’s a lot of tea leaf reading in trying to guess what might happen.”