by Andrei Gasca, LLM Student International Human Rights Law, University of Groningen, m.a.gasca@student.rug.nl

When former US President Donald Trump announced his decision to withdraw the US from the WHO, a shadow of uncertainty was cast over the near future of the world as it relates to global health and security. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and with vaccination commencing slowly everywhere around the globe, this decision effectively removed from the equation a player that was and is essential to the global efforts to tackle this pandemic. Albeit certainly not shocking, given Trump’s constant rhetoric of blame deflection, it has not been clear how well the rest of the world, and more specifically the WHO, can navigate this health crisis without US support. Luckily enough, that inquiry no longer requires an answer as Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump and became the 46th US President on the 21st of January 2021. More importantly for the purposes of this contribution, Joe Biden reversed Trump’s WHO withdrawal as soon as he took office. As the world enters a crucial phase in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, with vaccines being rolled out in the US and in Europe, this contribution will seek to shed some light on what role Biden’s presidency will play in this next key phase of the pandemic.

A starting reference point in this regard could be Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ seven-point plan to beat COVID-19. Notably, the sixth solution maintains that, inter-alia¸ restoring the “relationship with the World Health Organization […] is essential to coordinating a global response during a pandemic”. Due to the WHO Constitution, and the way withdrawal is mandated, the US could re-join as soon as President Biden took office (which, as mentioned previously, has already happened). Inherently, a WHO with the US on the inside and sitting at the top of the table has a wider outreach in terms of effective global health policy to tackle the COVID-19 crisis. Furthermore, President Joe Biden presents himself as a leader that is far more willing to engage in international co-operation, unlike his predecessor and his strong policy of modern isolationism. This is of crucial importance in developing a unified and efficient global approach in this next phase of the pandemic. Biden’s office had already explored avenues for cooperation with leaders of key States such as South Korea and Japan before inauguration. After taking office, President Biden established partnerships to combat the COVID pandemic with both the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi as well as with the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. As a result, one might assume that this strategy will only be extended and enhanced in relation to other States as time goes on. 

Hence, the importance of restoring fruitful relations with foreign leaders in a global pandemic cannot be overstated, but that is just one aspect that is bound to change in this context under President Biden. Another aspect, just as significant, has been the issue of WHO funding. Indeed, it is fairly simple to infer why cutting the funding from the largest donor of the single global health organization in the midst of a global pandemic might have been incredibly problematic and dangerous. Even though certain European States have stepped up to fill some of the funding void left by Trump’s withdrawal, the gap that would have been created would have been too large to not have adverse effects on the effective functioning of the WHO to tackle this crisis. In that regard, Biden’s victory comes as a much-needed relief for the organization at a time when it arguably needs it the most.

However, the aspect to consider the most is perhaps how the Biden presidency will impact the equitable worldwide distribution of COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX framework. Not surprisingly, Trump announced that the US would not join the COVAX global effort to distribute COVID-19 vaccines due to its link with the WHO. However, one day after President Biden formally took office, his chief medical adviser, dr. Anthony Fauci, confirmed that the US would indeed provide the much-needed support and join the COVAX initiative. Now, whilst it is disputed that the US, at the moment, is doing more to harm this initiative than to support it, given the fact that its projected vaccine supply is 1.2 billion doses (a fact which, by itself, is hardly surprising – it would have been foolish to expect President Biden to not prioritize US vaccine rollout first), it is certainly undisputed that the US support (mostly provided through funding) will prove indispensable to the success of this initiative. At the very least, there is definitely more cause for enthusiasm in this regard than was the case on the 20th of January 2021, namely, the final day of the previous presidency.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a global challenge which inherently requires a global approach. In that context, Biden’s decision to rescind Trump’s WHO withdrawal should generate plenty of optimism as it relates to rebuilding crucial relationships, WHO funding and making vaccines available worldwide. It may not be the factor that by itself puts us over the hump, but as vaccines start to roll out worldwide, a co-operative US reprising its leading role in global health could be integral in overcoming the pandemic over the coming months.