WHO-sjef Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hilser på Kinas president Xi Jinping før et møte i Folkets store hall i Beijing den 28. januar 2020. Foto: Naohiko Hatta / Pool via AP / NTB.

Det britiske regjerings­apparatet er urolig for at den planlagte globale pandemi­traktaten vil gi Verdens helse­organisasjon (WHO) myndighet til å bestemme over Storbritannia ved fremtidige pandemi­utbrudd.

Også britiske parlamentarikere er skeptiske ved utsiktene til at WHO vil kunne bestemme over ting som grensekontroll, vaksinepass, nedstengninger, karanteneregler, budsjetter, informasjonskontroll og intellektuelle rettigheter, melder The Telegraph.

Member states would be obliged to follow the agency’s instructions when responding to pandemics, including by introducing vaccine passports, border closures and quarantine measures, under a draft update to its regulations.

A new “pandemic treaty” under discussion would also force Britain to spend five per cent of its health budget on preparing for another virus outbreak.

Ministers are understood to be alarmed by plans to increase the WHO’s powers enabling its governing body to require countries to hand over the recipe of vaccines, regardless of intellectual property rights, and to counter misinformation.

En gruppe konservative parlamentarikere har skrevet et brev til regjeringen der de advarer mot at WHO blir en internasjonal myndighet, og ber om at slike forsøk avverges.

In their letter, seen by The Telegraph, they urge the Foreign Office to block powers that “appear to intrude materially into the UK’s ability to make its own rules and control its own budgets”.

I regjerings­apparatet forsikres det om at helsepolitikken ikke skal outsources:

Responding to the concerns on Thursday, Andrew Mitchell, a Foreign Office minister, told The Telegraph that he would block any law that prevents the UK from setting its own health policy.

“The UK is supportive of the pandemic treaty currently being negotiated by national governments, which could speed up the sharing of data on new pandemic threats so we are able to respond quickly in the event of future pandemics,” he said.

“We’re clear that we would never agree to anything that crosses our points of principle on sovereignty or prevents the UK from taking decisive action against future pandemics.”

Pandemitraktaten forventes å bli fullført innen mai 2024, og i prosessen er det blitt foreslått å gjøre WHOs råd bindende for traktatens parter.

The treaty was first proposed by world leaders including Boris Johnson in 2021 during the pandemic and was originally designed to improve alert systems, data-sharing and the production of vaccines to “foster an all of government and all of society approach”.

But among 300 proposed amendments to the IHRs are changes to make the WHO’s advice “binding” and introduce a new requirement for countries to recognise it as the global authority on public health measures.

Dette er spesielt urovekkende når man ser hva WHO har utrettet tidligere, kommenterer et av de konservative parlamentsmedlemmene:

Six conservative MPs led by Esther McVey, the former Cabinet minister, have written to Mr Mitchell to call for a Commons vote on the draft treaty and regulations before they are signed.

Ms McVey said: “There is, rightly, growing concern about the WHO’s Pandemic Treaty and International Health Regulations.

“The plans represent a significant shift for the organisation, from a member-led advisory body to a health authority with powers of compulsion.

“This is particularly worrying when you consider the WHO’s poor track record on providing consistent, clear and scientifically sound advice for managing international disease outbreaks.”

WHO var tidlig ute med å utelukke at koronaviruset kunne ha lekket fra Wuhan-laboratoriet, og WHO-sjef Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus roste Kina for håndteringen av utbruddet, til tross for at Kina unnlot å fortelle verden at viruset smittet mellom mennesker så snart de visste det – for i stedet å øke antallet flyreiser fra Wuhan til Italia før det ble allment kjent.

Da Donald Trump trakk USA ut av WHO, kritiserte han organisasjonen for å være i lommene på Kina.

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