Big Pharma, Big Government, Global Mandates: Reject the IHR Amendments

The clock is ticking for the US to reject a set of amendments to international health policies that pave the way for more Big Pharma dominance at the expense of personal choice. Action Alert!

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THE TOPLINE

• Proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) would give the World Health Organization broad authority to declare health emergencies based on vague and subjective criteria, triggering sweeping responses across member states.
• The amendments prioritize rapid global distribution of vaccines and drugs—defined as “relevant health products”—potentially mandating support from nations for Big Pharma’s products and infrastructure, including funding and compliance mechanisms.
• The amendments pave the way for vaccine passports, censorship of dissent, and centralized health control, echoing COVID-era mandates while sidelining individualized and natural health alternatives.

If personal autonomy and medical freedom are important to you, then please take action below to help us stop a set of bad amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) from coming into effect.

Under Article 59 of the IHR (2005), any Member State can “reject” or enter a “reservation” to specific amendments within the defined time window (currently 18 months). A rejection means the amendments do not legally apply to the rejecting country and this is the strongest legal option for the US to avoid being bound by undesired amendments.

Consider what happened during COVID-19: sweeping health mandates, vaccine passports, enforced masking and social distancing, and the suppression of free speech under the banner of fighting “misinformation.” It was a coordinated assault on personal freedom and individual choice. Now imagine what those same bureaucrats could do with even greater power—especially after learning how to overcome resistance the first time around.

On the surface it may appear redundant. On the first day of his second term in office, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization (WHO). But future presidents can, and in all likelihood will, rejoin the WHO, at which point the US will be subject to the revised IHR. We must get President Trump and Congress to proactively reject these amendments in order to set a precedent for the next Administration.

You may recall a whole series of amendments have been proposed, including by the US under the Biden Administration, that broaden the WHO’s powers during health emergencies, redefine “public health emergency,” and adjust timelines for reporting and compliance.

To refresh your memory, here are some of the most glaring issues in the amendments:

• Article 1 gives a vague definition of “pandemic emergency” as a “public health emergency of international concern caused by a communicable disease and: (i) has, or is at high risk of having, wide geographical spread to and within multiple States; and (ii) is exceeding, or is at high risk of exceeding, the capacity of health systems to respond in those States; and (iii) is causing, or is at high risk of causing, substantial social and/or economic disruption, including disruption to international traffic and trade…” (emphasis added). Risk is a broad and relative term, so this gives the Director-General of the WHO a lot of leeway in determining what counts as a “pandemic emergency.”
• Another key term defined in the amendments is “relevant health products” which includes the drugs, vaccines, tests, medical devices, and cell and gene-based therapies that Big Pharma is set to produce to combat the next communicable disease. A central part of the IHR amendments is about speeding the production of these products and getting them distributed as far and wide as possible.
• Article 13, section 9 obligates states to support the WHO in its activities and to work with domestic stakeholders to “facilitate equitable access to relevant health products” while also “making available…relevant terms of their research and development agreements for relevant health products related to promoting equitable access to such products…”
• The amendments set up what looks like a vaccine passport-like system, potentially requiring proof of vaccination or testing certificates for travel remain (Article 35).  
• A new section in article 44 says that “State Parties…shall maintain or increase domestic funding… to strengthen sustainable financing to support the implementation of these Regulations.” Taxpayer dollars are meant to be diverted to support the WHO’s plans and enrich Big Pharma.
• Annex 1 requires states to develop the “core capacities” related to preparing for and responding to a pandemic. This includes addressing mis- and disinformation.

What’s unfolding is an effort to centralize control over global health policy from outside the US. The public will be told by bureaucrats based in Geneva when to panic and which “solution” to accept. That solution will almost certainly be a newly manufactured vaccine or high-tech drug, rushed to market under emergency authorization. Rather than open debate or honest scientific inquiry, we’ll get carefully curated data, narrow narratives, and suppression of any alternative approaches. Those who raise legitimate concerns or advocate for natural, preventative, or individualized care will be sidelined or silenced. It’s a rigid, pharmaceutical-first framework that disregards the nuanced, adaptive relationship between human health and the natural world.

Help us stop this from becoming a reality.

Action Alert!

The post Big Pharma, Big Government, Global Mandates: Reject the IHR Amendments first appeared on Alliance for Natural Health USA – Protecting Natural Health.