Published on March 4, 2025
Edited by Colin Mitchell
Photo via Reuters

What Pulling Out of the WHO and RFK Jr. Could Mean for America’s Health

In a recent display of presidential power that left the entire world shocked, United States President Donald J. Trump announced on January 20, 2025, that the United States would be pulling out of the World Health Organization (WHO), an agency of the United Nations responsible for handling public health.

The text of the executive order cites the “organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states,” as reasons for the US withdrawal. The Trump administration also stated an unfair monetary expectation as a reason for the withdrawal, claiming in the executive order that “the WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments.” 

The World Health Organization, with 194 member states, functions as a worldwide coalition to prevent the spread of diseases. The United States was the largest contributor and donor to the World Health Organization, its funds ranging between $163 million and $816 million annually in the decade prior to President Trump’s withdrawal. 

In 2020, during President Trump’s first term, he often collided with members of the WHO. In July of that year, he began the process of pulling out from the WHO, claiming the organization was “too close to China” and had spread misinformation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, former President Joe Biden reversed this action. 

Now in his second term, President Trump promises to “make America healthy again,” nominating and confirming Robert F. Kennedy Junior as United States Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy has often gone on record criticizing vaccine mandates and the use of vaccines to treat diseases such as polio, measles, mumps, and COVID-19. 

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers say that another pandemic is imminent. It is only a matter of time. Diseases such as measles and whooping cough are on the rise in the States, the latter of which is at its highest prevalence since 2012. 

As RFK Jr. moves on to his final senate vote, the future of the United States’ health is uncertain. During his first Senate confirmation hearing, Kennedy told representatives he would “continue to follow the science” regarding vaccinations. 

Just before the United States pulled out of the WHO, the country saw an outbreak of H5N1 avian flu, also known as bird flu, for the first time in almost 20 years. Cases of bird flu have been reported in every state, with mass extinctions of flocks taking place. 

“I don’t want to sound alarmist, but bird flu is certainly a public health threat,” said Gonzalo Bearman, M.D., chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Virginia Commonwealth University. “It is important that agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments, continue to monitor the situation closely, and provide guidance to health care workers and the public to keep us abreast of the situation.”

Without the United States as part of the WHO, the world is wondering what the next pandemic would look like. Without its largest contributor and donor, the World Health Organization is trying to find a solution to prevent the outbreak of a potential avian flu pandemic. More than 500 bird species have been infected, with outbreaks occurring in 108 countries, according to the United Nations. 

Under President Trump, and without the WHO, it is entirely possible that the government will handle the bird flu outbreak in the same way they handled the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 pandemic caused immense damage to the United States in almost every respect; we still have not recovered economically, politically, or socially: children’s test scores are lower than they were before the pandemic, and the economy has suffered under relentless inflation. Social unrest is higher and distrust in the government has abounded. 

Without the help of the United Nations and the WHO, the United States is left to its own devices when controlling this potential pandemic. While nobody is clairvoyant, it is clear that not adhering to foreign guidelines may raise issues, both nationally and internationally. Potential travel restrictions and national disease control, as well as President Trump’s tariffs, raise concerns about the United States’ image and how this will affect the spread of disease on a global scale.