In a bold stance against international authority, twenty-six Republican governors have united to oppose the World Health Organization's (WHO) proposed Pandemic Treaty, which they argue threatens to infringe upon the constitutional rights of American citizens. Their collective resistance highlights growing concerns over the WHO's potential to centralize control over U.S. public health policy, prompting a call for state sovereignty and legislative action. As the WHO continues to push for greater authority amidst ongoing global health challenges, these governors are determined to safeguard the constitutional principles that define American governance.
NN: Twenty-six governors in the United States have publicly declared their opposition to the World Health Organization's (WHO) attempt at controlling the public
health policies of America through its global Pandemic Treaty.
"The World Health Organization is attempting one world control over health policy with their new 'Pandemic Agreement.' Twenty-four Republican governors expressed concern over this development in a joint letter in May. Put simply, Republican governors will not comply," the 26 governors, who are all Republicans, and the Republican Governors Association said in their joint statement released on August 29.
In a May 22 letter to President Joe Biden, 24 Republican governors stated their concerns about the WHO's proposal.
As stated in the letter, the WHO's proposed treaty would "empower the WHO, particularly its uncontrollable director-general, with the authority to restrict the rights of U.S. citizens, including freedoms such as speech, privacy, travel, choice of medical care and informed consent, thus violating our Constitution's core principles."
Over the past two years, the WHO has been attempting to pass the Pandemic Treaty.
In December 2021, the World Health Assembly established an intergovernmental negotiating body to create an international document under the WHO constitution to strengthen the agency's pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
The U.S. federal government has backed the initiative with the Biden administration participating in negotiations with the World Health Assembly as one of the intergovernmental negotiating bodies. The WHO issued a second draft of the Pandemic Treaty in October 2023.
Even though WHO negotiators disagreed on a final draft of the agreement during the latest World Health Assembly session, they did approve a set of amendments to the WHO's International Health Regulations.
American states' actions "central" to defeating WHO's Pandemic Treaty push
Dr. Meryl Nass, in an interview with The Defender, stated that the action taken by American states was "central" to defeating the WHO plan to centralize control of public health during declared emergencies.
"Children's Health Defense and Door to Freedom were central in devising this strategy. The Constitution's 10th Amendment reserves for the states all powers that were not specifically granted to the central government. Healthcare was never a federal authority," Nass said.
"Therefore, we urged citizens to contact their attorneys general, governors, legislators – and federal officials – to demand they not turn over authority for health to the WHO."
In May, in addition to 24 governors writing their letter of opposition, 49 senators called on the Biden administration to reject the WHO agreement.
Moreover, 22 attorneys general informed Biden they would "resist any attempt to enable the WHO to directly or indirectly set public policy for our citizens."
Several American states which include Utah, Florida, Louisiana and Oklahoma wrote a bill to prevent the WHO from overriding states' authority on matters of public health policy.
"I am certain that these efforts reverberated around the world and helped lead to rejection," Nass stated of the WHO's proposals.
