EO 14155 Act of 2025

Who is affected and how:

• Federal public health agencies (e.g., HHS, CDC) — will need to adjust legal authorities, international agreements, and operational plans that previously depended on WHO membership. They may need to develop new arrangements to replace WHO coordination, data access, and technical assistance.

• State, local, and tribal health departments — may lose or have reduced access to WHO technical guidance, global surveillance inputs, and coordination mechanisms that inform local preparedness and response planning.

• Health care providers, hospitals, research institutions, and global health NGOs — could face reduced coordination with WHO-led programs (vaccine procurement/standards, guidance, research networks), complicating international research collaborations and supply chain cooperation.

• International partners and multilateral programs — will need to recalibrate relationships with the United States and the WHO; diplomacy and humanitarian or emergency response cooperation may be affected.

• The American public — may experience indirect effects from reduced international coordination on disease surveillance, vaccine access, and public-health best practices, especially during cross-border outbreaks or pandemics.

Practical considerations:

• The statute does not itself allocate or rescind WHO-related funding; subsequent appropriations or administrative actions will determine actual resource flows.
• By moving the withdrawal into statute, Congress has made the policy more durable; undoing it would require additional legislation rather than just a presidential order.
• Operational transitions (ending U.S. representation, data-sharing agreements, contracts, and U.S.-funded WHO programs) may take time and could require further agency actions, appropriations, or new bilateral/multilateral agreements to fill gaps.