AR180

An Assembly Resolution urging the U.S. President to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization.

Whereas, The World Health Organization (WHO) is the United Nations agency tasked with developing, promoting, and implementing global health policy; and

Whereas, In its role as a global health leader, the WHO was responsible for directing the international response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, including providing information, guidance, and directives, as well as investigating the origins of the disease and developing strategies to contain and mitigate its spread; and

Whereas, Although the WHO learned of the virus that causes COVID-19 on December 31, 2019, it took a full month to identify the virus as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and it was not until March 2020 that the WHO first used the term “pandemic” to describe COVID-19; and

Whereas, Early on in the pandemic, the WHO issued conflicting and shifting guidance, particularly with regard to the use of facial coverings, and for several months discouraged people from wearing facemasks in public; in fact, prior to the development of COVID-19 vaccines, aside from social distancing, the use of facial coverings was one of the most effective ways of preventing transmission of the disease; and

Whereas, The WHO took more than a year to send an investigational team into Wuhan, China, where the COVID-19 pandemic is believed to have originated, and when it finally did so, the WHO allowed the Chinese government to establish parameters limiting the scope of the investigation; and

Whereas, Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO failed to call for border closings and the halt of international air travel, both of which measures may have helped slow or stop the spread of the disease; and

Whereas, It has been asserted that the WHO is a dictatorial organization with the authority to declare a pandemic, and, under the guide of a declared pandemic, order lockdowns, quarantines, and school closures, mandate vaccinations, police the media, and crack down on anyone spreading disinformation or misinformation about the pandemic; and

Whereas, Some pundits on the left argue anything in the biosphere that can harm human health is a pandemic; accordingly, it is argued the WHO would be empowered to declare pandemics based on climate change, racism, fisheries, and the acidification of the ocean, among other things; and

Whereas, It is alleged that the WHO receives significant funding from the Communist government in China, and as such is unduly influenced by China; and

Whereas, Because of the WHO’s failures in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, from its slow and inadequate initial response, its inconsistent and erroneous statements, and its unjustifiable deference to the Chinese government, as well as concerns as to the potential breadth of its authority to reach into every aspect of life across the globe, it is the sentiment of the New Jersey General Assembly that the United States should withdraw from the WHO and cease making monetary contributions to the organization; now, therefore,

Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. The New Jersey General Assembly respectfully urges the President of the United States to withdraw the United States from, and to cease making monetary contributions to, the World Health Organization.

2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly to the President of the United States.

STATEMENT

This Assembly resolution respectfully urges the President of the United States to withdraw the United States from, and to cease making monetary contributions to, the World Health Organization (WHO).

The WHO is the United Nations agency tasked with developing, promoting, and implementing global health policy, and was responsible for directing the international response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

It is the sentiment of the General Assembly that the WHO’s failures in its pandemic response, including a slow and inadequate initial reaction to the emergence of the disease, the issuance of inconsistent and erroneous guidance that may have exacerbated the spread of COVID-19, and its unjustifiable deference to the Chinese government, particularly with regard to the WHO’s investigation into the origins of the virus, as well as concerns as to the potential breadth of its authority to reach into every aspect of life across the globe, merit withdrawing the United States from the organization.