A Republican Senator is disagreeing with President Trump's decision to cut ties with the World Health Organization. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee said withdrawing membership could interfere with "clinical trials" essential to developing vaccines. He explained it could also make it harder to stop viruses from reaching the U.S. in the future. Alexander is chairman of the Senate Health Committee, and agreed there needs to be an investigation into potential mistakes made by the WHO during the coronavirus outbreak. But, he argued the time to do that is "after the crises has been dealt with, not in the middle of it."
“President Trump is putting politics before science and data with his misguided decision to terminate the U.S. relationship with the World Health Organization. This week our country reached a sad milestone when the COVID-19 death toll reached 100,000. The middle of an unprecedented global pandemic is the wrong time to cut ties with an agency that is on the front lines of the international battle to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus disease. Since 1948, the WHO has been recognized as a leader in the effort to help shape an integrated global health policy. Making a scapegoat out of the WHO at this time is irresponsible and will do nothing to end this public health crisis,” said Chairman Neal.