Arizona U.S. Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08) told The Arizona Sun Times late Thursday that she is “deeply concerned about the World Health Organization’s new pandemic treaty.” The congress member joins a growing number of lawmakers and healthcare professionals pushing pack against the Biden administration’s plan to forfeit the United States’ decision-making power over its healthcare policies to the World Health Organization (WHO).
“I heard from hundreds of constituents who voiced their concerns and their strong opposition to this treaty,” Rep. Lesko said.
“The WHO has been granted unprecedented, unilateral power to impose lockdowns, collude with Big Tech to censor information, expand a global system of surveillance, and establish authoritarian vaccine mandates. This is an egregious overreach that undermines our national sovereignty and threatens the freedoms of the American people. I will continue to defend Americans’ rights against an organization that has pushed the Chinese Communist Party’s lies about COVID-19 and only seeks to grow its own power,” she told The Sun Times.
The 75th World Health Assembly (WHA) was held in May. On the agenda was the WHO pandemic treaty.
Independent researcher James Roguski outlined this treaty’s risks to the world in his Substack column.
“The WHO is attempting to grab even more power over your life. It is seeking to greatly expand its ability to control the entire world’s response to the next pandemic far beyond its current limited legal authority. The WHO wants to do more than merely advise countries. It wants complete control,” said Roguski.
As of now, the treaty is not finalized. Negotiations will continue in June. The next meeting for the treaty is set for August 1st, where an initialized draft may be presented.
According to the European Union, after the August 1st meeting, the negotiating team will deliver a progress report to the 76th WHA. Then in 2024, a final draft will be presented for adaptation at the 77th WHA.
Separately, the Biden Administration introduced 13 amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR). The amendments were voted upon at the WHA.
The amendments seek to surrender the power of the United States to declare and launch its own response to an infectious disease episode, within its own borders, to the authority of the United Nations bureaucracy.
Nevertheless, none of the 13 amendments were adopted during the WHA.
“A working group, however, has been established to continue the process of discussing proposed IHR amendments and the separate new Pandemic Treaty,” reported the Star News Network. “The IHR Amendments proposed timeline spans September 30th, 2022 to May 2023 – the next WHA meeting.”
While some nations like the United Kingdom and Australia supported the amendments at the WHA, many other countries, including Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, and India, expressed concerns.
Even before the WHA, the BA’s amendments sparked immediate backlash within America.
Lesko signed a letter written by Texas Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX-05). The letter addressed to Xavier Becerra, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, expressed the concerns that signers have with the amendments.
“The United States, not the WHO, should be the deciding voice when it comes to public health policy decisions within the sovereign borders of our nation. The Biden Administration’s proposal before the World Health Assembly is nothing short of an extreme step toward a one world government, and Congress must do everything in our power to stop it from happening,” said Gooden in a press release explaining his reason for crafting the letter.
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Neil Jones is a reporter for the Arizona Sun Times and Star News Network. Follow Neil on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Debbie Lesko” by Congresswoman Debbie Lesko. Background Photo “World Health Organization” by Yann Forget. CC BY-SA 3.0.
