In a four-page letter late Monday, Trump had threatened to
permanently cut off U.S. funding of the WHO unless it committed to
“major, substantive improvements” within 30 days. It was a major
escalation of his repeated attempts to blame the WHO and China for the
spread of the virus and deflect responsibility for his handling of a
worldwide public health crisis that has killed more than 90,000 people
in the United States.
But representatives of the organization’s
member nations rallied around the WHO at its annual meeting in Geneva,
largely ignoring Trump’s demand for an overhaul and calling for a global
show of support in the face of a deadly pandemic.
The outcome
left the United States isolated as officials from China, Russia and the
European Union chided Trump over his heated threats even as they
acknowledged the need for a review of how the WHO performed as the virus
spread from China to the rest of the world.
Public health experts
noted that Trump’s threats to withdraw from the organization and halt
funding ignored the reality that any such moves would require the
consent of Congress, something many analysts said was unlikely.
Virginie Battu-Henriksson, a spokeswoman for the European Commission,
said it was “the time for solidarity, not the time for finger pointing.”
Valentina I. Matviyenko, speaker of the upper house of the Russian
parliament, said Moscow would stand behind the WHO, adding that there
was “certainly no reason to perform a mock trial or any kinds of
investigations” or to “destroy the useful things that have been
accumulated for decades by mankind.”
Read more at: WHO Members Reject Trump's Demands but Agree to Study Its Virus Response
