Illinois Joining WHO Global Outbreak Network Despite Federal Withdrawal

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said on Feb. 3 that the state will join the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network despite the United States fully withdrawing from the organization.

This would make Illinois the second state, after California, to go against the federal government’s withdrawal from the organization. President Donald Trump officially pulled the United States from the WHO on Jan. 22, citing its failures in handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement, Pritzker said he opposes the president’s action, noting that it “undermined science and weakened our nation’s ability to detect and respond to global health threats.”

“I refuse to sit idly by and let that happen,” he said. “By joining the World Health Organization’s coordinated network, GOARN, we are ensuring that our public health leaders – and the public – have the information, expertise, and partnerships they need to protect the people of our state.”

Pritzker said that joining the WHO would give Illinois access to timely global alerts, expert public health networks, and international response capabilities to protect its residents from emerging disease threats.

Membership in the WHO network would allow Illinois access to global early-warning alerts, outbreak intelligence, technical collaboration, and surge support during major public health events.

The state will be able to take part in international training and best-practice exchanges, while also enhancing coordination between state-level public health systems and global response efforts, according to the governor’s office.

White House spokesman Kush Desai criticized Pritzker’s decision to join the WHO network, citing the organization’s response to the pandemic.

“The World Health Organization knowingly and deliberately lied about COVID-19 at the outset of the pandemic, and is a key reason why many countries were caught off guard,” Desai told The Epoch Times via email. “JB Pritzker’s insistence on maintaining access to WHO resources and information despite this gross travesty is more proof that Illinois suffers from incompetent leadership.”

Trump first announced the decision to exit the WHO in a Jan. 20, 2025, executive order, with the move becoming official last month after the one-year notice requirement was met.

The order directed that all U.S. funding and support for the WHO be suspended and all U.S. personnel working in any capacity with the organization be recalled.

As well as the WHO’s alleged mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and other global health crises, the president cited the failure to adopt “urgently needed reforms” and an inability to demonstrate independence from “the inappropriate political influence” of member states as reasons for the withdrawal.

The United States was the largest contributor to the WHO, having contributed about $1.28 billion during the 2022–2023 biennium, according to the organization’s website. It stated that U.S. experts supported nearly half of the organization’s joint external evaluation missions in 2024.

Trump first attempted to withdraw the United States from the WHO in 2020 at the end of his first term, but President Joe Biden reversed the move after taking office in 2021.

Trump’s Jan. 20, 2025, executive order subsequently revoked Biden’s presidential letter retracting the 2020 withdrawal notification.