Republican U.S. senators are pushing to reinforce congressional power to authorize treaties, as a bulwark against a World Health Organization (WHO) accord which they are concerned would give centralized authority to the U.N. health agency over U.S. policy in the event of a pandemic.
The draft accord, which would be “legally binding” on all 194 member nations, gives the agency the authority to declare pandemics. It also says that signatories “recognize” the central role of WHO, as the “directing and coordinating authority on international health work”, in areas such as pandemic prevention, preparedness, response and recovery of health systems.
