(NationalUSNews.com) — On Wednesday, May 22, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott announced on the social media platform X that his state would not be complying with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) proposed ‘Pandemic Agreement’.
The U.S. has not yet signed the agreement, as it is still under development. Support for the WHO’s global agreement is fairly partisan, with Democrats generally approving and Republicans disapproving. Abbot’s comments on social media come after 24 states sent the Biden administration a letter urging the president not to sign it.
Abbott is well known for refusing to comply with the Biden administration in various ways. When the Supreme Court ruled federal agents could remove the razor wire Texas was using to protect the border, Abbott instructed the Texas National Guard troops and law enforcement to continue their use. More recently, President Biden expanded title IX to conflate gender and sex in a way that requires all schools and universities to allow trans-identified males to play in all female sports. Abbott rejected that as well, instructing Texan universities to ignore the changes.
The letter sent to the White House, which Abbott also signed, emphasized national sovereignty and states’ rights. Many of the proposed components of the WHO’s agreement are just agreements to strengthen pandemic protections, maintain funding for addressing future pandemics, or promise to minimize biological risks in laboratories. Some take issue with other proposed actions for member nations, however. For instance, signatories would agree to strengthening their surveillance capacities. Mass surveillance and data security are an increasing area of concern, so this could be a problem for many.
Abbot and many others are also worried about placing national decisions in the hands of unelected global organizations. The WHO’s Director-General would have the authority to dictate responses to a declared PHEIC (public health emergency of international concern), which the WHO would have unilateral power to declare. Some are concerned it would give the WHO power to deprive Americans of their freedom of speech, as the WHO has expressed support for censoring those whom they accuse of spreading misinformation. WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has long been criticized for his lack of transparency and autocratic rule of the organization.
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