(12 May 2022)

A US proposal to amend the International Health Regulations (IHR) is scheduled to be voted on at the May 22-28 World Health Assembly.

The proposal was sent to WHO member countries by the WHO Director General as early as January 20. However, the proposal was only made available to the public on April 12, and in a way that hardly anybody took notice. Mainstream media coverage is virtually nonexistent. I became aware of it through a May 8 report by the independent Austrian news portal tkp.at, which in turn learned of it only through a May 4 report by the portal America Out Loud.

The US proposal is characterized throughout by changes that would empower the WHO to declare health emergencies for countries and regions without involvement or consent of the respective governments, and to dictate countermeasures, even including the deployment of foreign teams of experts.