This article originally appeared on Jon Fleetwood’s Substack and was republished with permission.
Guest post by Jon Fleetwood
The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are “actively participating” in virtual meetings with the World Health Organization (WHO) at the Crick Worldwide Influenza Center in London.
This is despite President Donald Trump signing an executive order on January 20, 2025 withdrawing the United States from the WHO.
The order explicitly commanded to “recall and reassign United States Government personnel or contractors working in any capacity with the WHO.”
However, it appears the Trump administration is yet again making concessions for influenza bird flu efforts, potentially signaling its role in orchestrating another pandemic.
Trump Admin’s History of Influenza Bird Flu Pandemic Orchestration
In December, Trump applauded House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) 1,547-page stopgap spending bill, the original version of which sought to bankroll the construction of new biolabs, risky experiments on dangerous pathogens, vaccines, and the coordination of an apparently incoming influenza bird flu pandemic.
Even after pushback on the bill forced legislators to shorten the text to 116 pages, the document provided sweeping authority to the federal government under the pretense of health emergencies and disaster management.
Moreover, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported last month that the Trump admin was preparing an executive order that would temporarily halt federal funding for deadly gain-of-function (GOF) experiments that make pathogens more dangerous to humans.
WSJ cited an unnamed source who claimed the order would not apply to bird flu.
In September 2019, just three months before the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump signed Executive Order 13887, which authorized the Department of Defense to “facilitate development of next-generation influenza vaccines.”
That order gave the military the power to make “recommendations for increasing influenza vaccination among the populations.”
The EO also created a powerful multi-agency “National Influenza Vaccine Task Force,” charged with identifying actions, achieving objectives identified in the order, as well as monitoring and reporting on the implementation and results of those actions.
The task force consists of a senior official from the following executive branch departments, agencies, and offices:
- Department of Defense
- Department of Justice
- Department of Agriculture
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Department of Homeland Security
- United States Food and Drug Administration
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- National Institutes of Health
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
- Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA)
Critics of government overreach during the COVID pandemic say these unprecedented new powers were weaponized against Americans essentially making those opposed to vaccines enemies of the state.
Trump Makes Exceptions for WHO Bird Flu Efforts
Now, influenza experts from around the world are gathering at London’s Crick Worldwide Influenza Center “to pore over data in a multi-day effort, led by the World Health Organization, to decide which specific viruses next winter’s flu shot should target,” according to STAT News.
The WHO established the Worldwide Influenza Centre in 1948 to research and monitor flu strains to “keep the vaccine up-to-date,” according to the center’s website.
The center analyzes flu samples from all over the world, “looking at both seasonal and potentially pandemic strains.”
“For seasonal flu, we monitor changes in the circulating viruses to inform the WHO’s recommendations on which viruses to vaccinate against,” the website explains.
“When we receive a potentially pandemic strain, we analyse the virus in the lab and advise the WHO on its properties and the risk it could pose. Examples of such animal viruses posing a threat to human health include the recent ‘swine flu’ and ‘bird flu’ viruses.”
Sources are said to have revealed to STAT that the CDC and FDA “are key players in the World Health Organization-led process to select the flu viruses for next winter’s influenza vaccines are participating in a meeting to discuss the issue.”
The news site even emphasized how the agencies’ attendance is “despite the Trump administration’s plans to withdraw from the global health agency.”
Interestingly, the CDC did not make public its attendance beforehand.
The CDC “did not announce its plans to participate in advance but confirmed its role Monday in an email response to STAT.”
“CDC will be actively participating virtually at the WHO vaccine consultation meeting for the recommendation of viruses for 2025-26 Northern Hemisphere vaccine this week,” a CDC spokesperson, Benjamin Haynes, told the news org.
Besides Haynes, all sources who spoke with STAT “requested they not be identified by name because they hadn’t been authorized to speak.”
STAT claims that in order to attend the meeting, even virtually, “the two agencies would have had to receive an exemption from the Trump administration due to its ban on all interactions with the WHO.”
The Trump admin’s quiet exemption for CDC and FDA officials to engage with WHO on bird flu efforts, despite an explicit withdrawal order, raises serious questions about its true stance on pandemic preparedness—whether it’s actually dismantling global health entanglements or merely rebranding its role in the next influenza-driven crisis.
Copyright 2025 Jon Fleetwood
