WHO Chief Tedros on Covid, China and Texting RFK Jr

2026-02-27

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When President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, one of his first acts was to sign an executive order withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization. The administration's rupture with the WHO began in Trump’s first term, when relations deteriorated as the Covid-19 pandemic set in. In this conversation with Mishal Husain, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reveals he remains in close contact with US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. despite that break. He a...

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reveals he remains in close contact with US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. despite that break. He also talks about the lessons learned from Covid and why the WHO is still waiting for answers from China as it seeks to understand the origins of the virus.

Beyond the politics of global health, Ghebreyesus opens up about his own childhood trauma and why the death of his brother in 1970 makes the fight against preventable disease personal for him.

02:51 - Being a child of war
06:25 - Working in conflict zones
08:07 - “War and disease are old friends”
09:34 - “Don’t forget the invisible enemy”
11:35 - How far away is the next pandemic?
12:48 - US withdrawal from the WHO
14:50 - Covid and China
16:50 - Personal attacks from the US
18:16 - The US flag has been returned
18.51 Argentina is leaving the WHO
21:22 - Was Covid a lab leak?
22:49 - Waiting for answers from China
26:46 - Vaccine skeptics
27:26 - Texting RFK Jr.
28:56 - “My brother died”
31:06 - “He could have survived”
33:46 - “Defunding mRNA research is the wrong decision”
34:20 - Will MAHA work?
37:27 - A message for President Trump
39:26 - “Viruses get advantage when we are divided”