CDC Officials To Participate In WHO-Led Vaccine Conference, Defiance Of Trump Executive Order?
By Danielle
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials appeared to defy President Trump’s executive order to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) after saying the agency would participate in a conference on the influenza vaccine.
The biannual conference is led by the WHO, Fox News noted.
“CDC will be actively participating virtually at the WHO vaccine consultation meeting for the recommendation of viruses for 2025-26 Northern Hemisphere Vaccine this week,” a CDC spokesperson told Fox News.
CDC seems to defy Trump executive order by participating in WHO vaccine conference https://t.co/WCqG6819WR
— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 26, 2025
Fox News reports:
The agency did not clarify if it received an exemption from Trump’s executive order, which required all officials to stop working with the WHO.
Trump signed the executive order to withdraw the U.S. from the WHO just hours after taking office last month. The president cited reasons such as WHO’s “mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the “failure to adopt urgently needed reforms,” and “unfairly onerous payments” forced on the U.S.
Days after signing the order, Trump said during a Las Vegas rally that he was open to potentially rejoining the WHO if the global body were “to clean it up a bit.”
The WHO issued a statement shortly after Trump’s order, lamenting the president’s decision and expressing hope that the U.S. will rethink the move.