In a decisive move, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the United States’ formal rejection of the 2024 International Health Regulations Amendments, adopted by the World Health Organization last year.
The joint statement issued by Secretaries Kennedy and Rubio asserts American autonomy in the face of what administration officials have characterized as an unacceptable expansion of WHO powers.
The amendments in question, adopted by the World Health Assembly on June 1, 2024, would give the WHO authority to impose international measures—including lockdowns and travel restrictions—based on the organization’s determination of “potential public health risks.”
These changes are set to become binding for all member states not formally rejecting them by July 19, regardless of the United States’ previous withdrawal from the organization.
Kennedy sharply criticized the amendments, drawing parallels to pandemic-era policies:
The proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations open the door to the kind of narrative management, propaganda, and censorship that we saw during the COVID pandemic. The United States can cooperate with other nations without jeopardizing our civil liberties, without undermining our Constitution, and without ceding away America’s treasured sovereignty.
Rubio echoed the concern, highlighting vague and expansive language in the WHO’s amendments:
Terminology throughout the amendments to the 2024 International Health Regulations is vague and broad, risking WHO-coordinated international responses that focus on political issues like solidarity, rather than rapid and effective actions. Our agencies have been and will continue to be clear: we will put Americans first in all our actions and we will not tolerate international policies that infringe on Americans’ speech, privacy, or personal liberties.
The administration’s rejection was quickly praised by several members of Congress, all emphasizing national sovereignty and criticizing the WHO’s performance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Congressman Chip Roy (R-Austin) stated, “The United States must never cede our sovereignty to any international entity or organization.”
Roy called the WHO “a widely discredited international organization” that “lost any potential credibility during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“We must ensure no future administration grants them any legitimacy or further power over the health of Americans,” Roy added.
Texas Republicans have been fighting the WHO’s proposed regulations over the past year, with nearly all of the state’s Republican delegation in the House voting in favor of H.R. 1425, the No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act, last year. The legislation sought to mandate that any pandemic-related international agreements from the WHO must receive a two-thirds vote in the Senate before binding the U.S.
Gov. Greg Abbott also joined 23 Republican governors across the nation in a letter to now-former President Joe Biden, opposing the administration’s consideration of the unconstitutional “Pandemic Agreement” last year.
The 2024 IHR Amendments—adopted through what U.S. officials described as a rushed process lacking adequate debate and public input—were initially presented as measures to enhance global coordination against future pandemics.
Critics within the U.S. government argue that such sweeping authority undermines national sovereignty and Americans’ ability to shape their own public health strategies.
The U.S. rejection signals a prioritization of constitutional liberties over compliance with global mandates.
It is the latest in a series of efforts by Secretary Kennedy, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Trump administration to limit WHO influence and press for organizational reform.
