The US is finalizing its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, hampering the global response to the outbreak

The US has finalized its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, after a year President Trump announced – on his first day the second term – that the United States was ending its 78-year-old commitment, government officials said Thursday.

But it’s hardly a clean break.

The US owes more than $130 million to the global health center, according to the WHO. And Trump administration officials admit they haven’t finished fixing other problems, such as the loss of access to data from other countries that could give America early warning of a new pandemic.

Cancellations will be made damage the global response in new outbreaks and will hamper the ability of American scientists and pharmaceutical companies to develop vaccines and drugs against new threats, said Lawrence Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University.

“In my opinion, it’s the worst presidential decision in my life,” he said.

The WHO is the specialized health agency of the United Nations and is mandated to coordinate responses to global health threats, such as outbreaks of mpox, Ebola and polio. It also provides technical assistance to poor countries; helps distribute rare vaccines, supplies and treatments; and sets guidelines for hundreds of health conditions, including mental health and cancer.

Almost every country in the world is a member.

American officials helped lead the creation of the WHO, and America has long been among the organization’s biggest donors, providing hundreds of millions of dollars and hundreds of staff with specialized public health expertise.

On average, the US pays $111 million a year in membership fees to the WHO and about $570 million in annual voluntary contributions, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Losing that funding and support is a matter of life and death, according to Dr. Judd Walson, an infectious disease physician, epidemiologist and professor at Johns Hopkins University who works to improve child survival, growth and development in low- and middle-income areas.

“It is estimated that more than 750,000 people will die of overdose this year as a result of these changes, the majority of those are children,” said Walson told CBS News.

Without US participation and funding, he said, the WHO would have had to “cut back a lot.”

“There are less resources to monitor data on potential threats like pandemics, emerging disease threats. There are less resources to help support supply chains. All of those direct financial impacts of our withdrawal are real, and there are many other impacts as well, that we will see as countries can no longer support their health systems,” he said.

In an executive order issued shortly after taking office, Mr. Trump said the US was withdrawing from the WHO because of the organization’s mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic and other global health issues. He also pointed out the organization’s “failure to adopt urgently needed reforms” and “its inability to demonstrate independence from the undue political influence of WHO member countries.”

The WHO, like other public health organizations, has made costly mistakes during the violence, including at one point advising people not to wear masks. It also asserted that COVID-19 did not exist in the aira situation that did not officially reverse until 2024.

Another complaint of the Trump administration: None of the WHO’s chief executives — there have been nine since the agency was founded in 1948 — have been Americans. Administration officials see that as unfair given the WHO’s reliance on US funding and staff from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Experts say a US withdrawal could cripple many global health efforts, including efforts to end polio, maternal and child health programs, and research to identify new viral threats.

Dr. Ronald Nahass, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, called the US withdrawal “misguided and wrong” and “scientifically careless.”

“It fails to acknowledge the basic natural history of infectious diseases. Global cooperation is not a luxury; it is a biological necessity,” Nahass said.

“This not only makes Americans less safe, it makes citizens of other countries less safe,” Tom Bollyky, director of global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, told KFF Health News when the plans were announced.

“The US cannot protect itself from international health threats,” he added.

The US has ceased formal participation in WHO-sponsored committees, leadership bodies, administrative bodies and technical working groups. That would seem to include a WHO group that assesses which types of flu are prevalent and makes critical decisions about updating the flu vaccine.

It also shows that the US is no longer participating in global flu information sharing that guides vaccination decisions.

Such disease intelligence has helped Americans be “at the front of the line” when new diseases emerge and new vaccines and drugs are urgently needed to fight them and save lives, Gostin said.

Trump administration officials say they already have public health partnerships with many countries and are working to ensure direct sharing of that kind of information, rather than having the WHO act as a middleman. But US officials did not provide details on how many such arrangements exist.

Gostin, an expert on public health agreements and cooperation, said it is unlikely that the US will reach agreements with more than a dozen countries.

Many emerging viruses are first detected in China, but “will China sign an agreement with the United States?” Gostin said. “Will the African countries do that? Will the countries that Trump gave a lot of money send us their information? The claim is almost laughable.”

Gostin also believes that President Trump overstepped his authority in withdrawing the WHO. The US joined the organization through an act of Congress and must take an act of Congress to withdraw, he said.

The US is required by law to give one year’s notice before withdrawing – which it did – but also to pay any outstanding financial obligations.

The US has not paid any of its money for 2024 and 2025, leaving a balance of more than $133 million, according to the WHO.

An administration official denied that requirement on Thursday, saying the US had no obligation to pay before withdrawing as a member.