The United States might never restore funding for the World Health Organization (WHO), U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says.
WHO officials have repeatedly defended the Chinese Communist Party amid widespread evidence of deception and manipulation.
Pompeo indicated in an interview with Fox News that he supports growing calls for the resignation of WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“I think that’s right,” Pompeo told host Laura Ingraham when asked whether he favors a change in the WHO’s leadership.
“Or even more than that. It may be the case that the United States can never return to underwriting, having U.S. taxpayer dollars go to the WHO. We may need to have even bolder change than that,” he said.
“I think we need to take a real hard look at the WHO and what we do coming out of this. We reformed this back in 2007, so this isn’t the first time we’ve had to deal with the shortcomings of this organization that sits inside the United Nations. We need a fix. We need a structural fix with the WHO.”
The United States gave the WHO more than $400 million last year. During the pause in funding, American officials are looking at switching funding efforts, including on polio eradication, to other groups.
The 2007 reforms included implementing a rule that countries needed to report outbreaks of new illnesses within 24 hours. Another change was giving the WHO’s chief the ability to make public any information about a member country flouting the rules.
Pompeo also said April 22 that the CCP still hasn’t allowed U.S. scientists to enter China and visit the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a high-level laboratory located close to where the virus first emerged.
Two U.S. scientists were allowed into China in February as part of a WHO team. The report the team issued on its visit in conjunction with China was extremely positive toward China’s response.