The Biden administration is setting up a new pandemic preparedness office that will aid the country in countering such large-scale health threats. “As part of the President’s commitment to ensure that our country is more prepared for a pandemic than we were when he took office, the Administration is standing up the Office of Pandemic…

Commentary Our governments intend to transfer decisions over our health, families, and societal freedoms to the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), whenever he or she declares it necessary. The success of this transfer of power depends on public ignorance of its implications, and of the nature of the WHO itself and its…

Commentary 1.Why this unofficial Q&A? The World Health Organization (WHO) includes a Q&A of its proposed health emergency instruments on its website. This document inadequately characterizes draft amendments that carry significant consequences for basic human rights and democratic process. Therefore, the proposals and their implications are explained further here, based on the WHO’s drafts, to support…

Commentary Democracies and sane societies are built on rationalism and honesty. They may not always exhibit this, but these values must underpin major decisions. Without them, neither democracy nor justice are sustainable. They are replaced by a structure in which the few dictate to the many, and the excesses of feudalism, slavery, or fascism rise…

Commentary Human history is a story of forgotten lessons. Despite the catastrophic collapse of European democracy in the 1930s, it appears that the tale of the twentieth century—in which citizens, cowed by existential threats, acquiesced in the rejection of liberty and truth in favour of obedience and propaganda, whilst allowing despotic leaders to seize ever…

Commentary The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently developing two international legal instruments intended to increase its authority in managing health emergencies, including pandemics; (1) Amendments to the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR), and (2) A pandemic treaty, termed “CA+” by the WHO. The draft IHR amendments would lay out new powers for the WHO…

Commentary President Joe Biden’s diplomats are negotiating a treaty with the World Health Organization (WHO) to promote so-called global health equity. The premise is that in a pandemic or other worldwide disease emergency, Americans should not get better or faster health care than inhabitants of third-world countries. If Biden rams this through, Americans will suffer…

Commentary When it comes to the business of vaccines and biosecurity, the land of free enterprise is all up for large-scale state intervention to create and prop up markets. Some of the generals behind the biosecurity “Manhattan Project” believe the War on Microbes is too important to leave to politicians or Adam Smith’s invisible hand. In…

Commentary The lockdowns of March 2020 shocked the American people and most public health agencies, not to mention infectious disease doctors. The idea of school shutdowns, business closures, plus mandatory remote work and other restrictions have previously seemed inconceivable. It was especially remarkable to have such an “all-of-government” response to a virus that we already…

Commentary “The frequency and impact of pandemic-prone pathogens are increasing. Modest investments in PPR capacities can prevent and contain disease outbreaks, thereby drastically reducing the cost of response” So begins a recent joint paper from the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), written for the 2022 meeting of the G20. The paper is seeking to…