The CDC has defied Robert F Kennedy Jr and President Donald Trump by taking part in a vaccine meeting with the World Health Organization this week.
Under executive orders, the public health agency was banned from communicating from WHO as the US started its withdrawal from it.
Trump cited the UN agency’s failings during Covid and close ties to China as reasons for his government’s exit.
However, a spokesperson for the CDC told DailyMail.com members from the organization ‘will be actively participating virtually at the WHO vaccine consultation meeting for the recommendation of viruses for 2025-26 Northern Hemisphere Vaccine this week’.
The weeklong meeting began on Monday, with leaders from both the CDC and FDA in attendance.
Prior to the meeting, the two government agencies would have had to seek an exemption from the Trump administration.
Twice annually, WHO organizes consultations with an advisory group of experts to analyze global flu data, with recommendations issued on the composition of vaccines for the next flu season.
These recommendations are used by vaccine regulatory agencies and pharmaceutical companies to develop, produce and license flu vaccines over the course of several months.
The CDC has defied Robert F Kennedy Jr and President Donald Trump by taking part in a vaccine meeting with the World Health Organization this week
This week’s meeting, for the 2025-2026 Northern Hemisphere flu vaccines, is being held at the Francis Crick Institute in London, while the next meeting will take place in September.
Health experts feared America’s absence in the meeting would could potentially lead to less effective flu vaccines.
Trump issued an executive order to begin the process of withdrawing the US from WHO in January, but that did not take immediate effect.
Leaving WHO requires the approval of Congress and that the U.S. meets its financial obligations for the current fiscal year. The U.S. also must provide a one-year notice.
His administration also told federal health agencies to stop most communications with the public through at least the end of the month.
‘Stopping communications and meetings with WHO is a big problem,’ said Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, a University of Southern California public health expert who collaborates with WHO on work against sexually transmitted infections.
‘People thought there would be a slow withdrawal. This has really caught everyone with their pants down,’ said Klausner, who said he learned of it from someone at CDC.
‘Talking to WHO is a two-way street,’ he added, noting that the two agencies benefit from each other’s expertise.
The collaboration allows the US to learn about new tests, new treatments and emerging outbreaks – information ‘which can help us protect Americans abroad and at home,’ Klausner said.
The CDC details nearly 30 people to WHO and sends many millions of dollars to it through cooperative agreements.
The US agency also has some of the world’s leading experts in infectious diseases and public health threats, and the two agencies’ staffers are in daily contact about health dangers and how to stop them.
The collaboration halt isn’t the only global health effect of Trump’s executive orders.
In another move, the president froze spending on another critical program, PEPFAR or the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
Trump issued an executive order to begin the process of withdrawing the US from WHO in January, but that did not take immediate effect
The anti-HIV program is credited with saving 25 million lives, including those of 5.5 million children, since it was started by Republican President George W. Bush. It was included in a Trump administration freeze on foreign aid spending slated to last at least three months.
PEPFAR provides HIV medication to more than 20 million people ‘and stopping its funding essential stops their HIV treatment,’ International AIDS Society President Beatriz Grinsztejn said in a statement. ‘If that happens, people are going to die and HIV will resurge.’
A US health official confirmed that the CDC was stopping its work with WHO.
The person was not authorized to talk about the memo and spoke on condition of anonymity.
A WHO spokesperson referred questions about the withdrawal to US officials.
Trump has signaled some willingness to backtrack on his withdrawal from the WHO, telling a rally in Las Vegas soon after signing the order that ‘we would consider doing it again, I don’t know… They would have to clean it up.’
Sources said it remains unclear whether the points in the proposal will come to fruition, and the administration has not formally announced that it will return to the organization any time soon.
As of now, the CDC is barred from communicating with the WHO, a sudden stoppage that public health authorities fear could set back work on containing outbreaks of Marburg virus, mpox, Ebola, bird flu, and other emerging global health threats.
The White House told Reuters that it will ‘continue to review current processes and healthcare bodies to implement needed reforms.’
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .