Sen. Lamar Alexander criticized President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Tennessee Republican, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, released a statement on Tuesday in which he acknowledged that the WHO botched some of its response to the health crisis but said he disagrees with the president’s choice to abandon the organization.
“I disagree with the president’s decision. Certainly, there needs to be a good, hard look at mistakes the World Health Organization might have made in connection with coronavirus, but the time to do that is after the crisis has been dealt with, not in the middle of it,” Alexander said.
“Withdrawing U.S. membership could, among other things, interfere with clinical trials that are essential to the development of vaccines, which citizens of the United States, as well as others in the world, need,” he added. “And withdrawing could make it harder to work with other countries to stop viruses before they get to the United States. If the administration has specific recommendations for reforms of the WHO, it should submit those recommendations to Congress, and we can work together to make those happen.”
The WHO, which is an agency of the United Nations, has been criticized for its response to the coronavirus, especially in connection to its treatment of China. In the early days of the pandemic, the WHO promoted propaganda from the Chinese Communist Party that claimed COVID-19 could not spread between humans. Trump called the organization “China-centric” and halted funding to the group in April. The administration notified Congress that the U.S. cut ties with the WHO on Tuesday.
Alexander has spoken out against Trump and his administration in the past. The senator is wrapping up his career in Washington after three terms in the Senate. He announced that he would not be running for reelection in 2020 shortly after the 2018 elections.
