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Within a few hours of taking office, President Trump issued an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization, citing “mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic,” a need for reform, and high costs. The U.S. is one of the largest voluntary donors, with $110 million per year in annual dues plus donations adding up to $1.1 billion in 2022 and 2023. The WHO will certainly feel the impact, losing about one-fifth of its budget. There’s some worry that the U.S. withdrawal will prompt some other countries with economic concerns to pull out, too. Here in the U.S., the CDC and FDA will lose access to WHO data, like the genetic sequencing of COVID that came from China in the early pandemic. On the whole, though, the bigger concern is about a slower or less effective response to outbreaks like Ebola or Marburg, which the WHO generally leads. The WHO is on the front lines of epidemic response, helping local governments stop outbreaks at the source, before they become bigger issues. There’s a slim possibility that decreased funding will actually increase the overall risk of a pandemic through decreased educational funding in high-risk areas (like teaching villagers how to live safely with bats). But far more likely is that this increases the risk that an existing pathogen - think Marburg, mpox, or bird flu - could spread out of control. There’s a one-year withdrawal period, so it will be some time until the world feels these effects. In the meantime, we hope that other countries and the private sector can help make up the difference, because it’s a question of when, not if, the next pandemic comes.
Sources: NY Times, Science, WHO
Even if you’re the only one doing it, wearing a mask does protect you from seasonal viruses like flu and COVID. It works much better if everyone else around you masks, of course. But if you have a big event coming up that you don’t want to miss, wearing a mask really can help get you there. In one model, those with loose-fitting surgical masks had a 90% chance of infection within 30 minutes of being in close contact with someone sick with COVID who was unmasked. When they wore N95s, that dropped down to a 20% chance over a full hour. There’s quite a bit of evidence that wearing a well-fitting N95 mask really does protect the person wearing it. They’re not perfect, but they do lower your risk, especially when you’re in close contact with someone sick. If you’re delivering soup to your sick neighbor or going to a kids birthday party the week before your wedding day, it makes good sense to mask up to protect yourself.
Sources: NPR, PNAS, JATM, Insider, CDC
Our communication around how vaccines work was a big COVID failure. As vaccination rates decline, outbreaks here in the U.S. are likely among those who aren’t vaccinated, but some illnesses are bound to affect even vaccinated adults when they begin to circulate more widely. Understanding why is key to good public health communication.