One year ago today, the World Health Organization lied to the world about the coronavirus. Some 2 million deaths later, the organization still hasn’t learned much from its failures.
On Jan. 14, 2020, the WHO uncritically parroted Chinese propaganda as the world watched China’s coronavirus outbreak with some concern. In the tweet, which still has not been deleted, the WHO says that “Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission” of the coronavirus.
Doctors in Wuhan, China, had evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus as early as the first week of December 2019. The WHO still praised China’s response to the virus as its leaders privately complained about the Chinese Communist Party’s lack of transparency. China blocked outside health experts and covered up the spread of the virus, all while declaring that other countries brought the virus to China.
Poetically, the WHO has finally landed in Wuhan exactly one year later to search for the origin of the virus. Still, the Chinese government is trying to stand in the way. The WHO isn’t likely to do anything that would ruffle the feathers of the CCP. Under the leadership of Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO willfully ignored the warnings about the virus from Taiwan, which the organization refuses to recognize out of reverence for China.
One year out from its mistake, the WHO has learned nothing. Neither has President-elect Joe Biden, who has vowed to rejoin the WHO on the first day of his presidency with no conditions attached. The United States has given the WHO $3.5 billion in taxpayer dollars since 2010, only to receive more criticism from Tedros for implementing travel restrictions on China than China did for covering up the pandemic.
While plenty of U.S. politicians made terrible decisions during this crisis, the blame for the outbreak still lies at the feet of the Chinese government. The WHO was an accessory to the CCP’s cover-up, and it isn’t going to improve any time soon with Tedros at the helm.