Don’t Withhold Payment to WHO When It’s Most Needed

With projected eventual infection rates of 25% or 50%, and 81% in the absence of mitigation, this Covid-19 virus could be a catastrophe of the first order. Daily, we hear of anguished choices made in hospitals. We hear of financial disaster faced by suddenly unemployed workers, and of our faltering economy.

But ….. We must expect a much deeper disaster to develop in the densely populated cities and the desperately poor villages of the third world. Many millions have no clean water, let alone soap or sanitizer or masks or tests. Crowded into one room, people cannot keep social distance. The WHO (World Health Organization) has played a leading role in eliminating smallpox, almost eliminating polio, and developing an Ebola vaccine. WHO is the world’s leader in this life-or-death struggle against this virus, yet Pres.Trump chose this moment to withhold payment of our obligation to it. This is beyond shameful: With no prospect of vaccines for 12 to 18 months, this could develop into a catastrophe comparable to World War I and II.

Pres. Trump has used the Defense Production Act to order US corporations to produce these supplies needed in the US. This order must be increased so we can also send supplies abroad, unless we are content to watch, with our hands folded, as many millions in the third world die preventable deaths.

We desperately need the WHO. Urge your Representative and Senators to enforce Congress’s decision to make this payment. And urge them to pass a law that calls forth America’s humanitarian instincts to massively produce these basic, inexpensive supplies, that could literally save tens of millions of lives when shared around the world.

Contact: Your Representative & Senators in Congress

• Web: Find their names and links to their websites at www.senate.gov, www.house.gov; send an email or leave a message via ‘Contact’ on his/her website

• Tel: 202 224-3121 (Capitol switchboard-ask for his/her office & leave a message)

• Mail: Senator or Representative (first & last name) U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510 or U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515
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