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The new committee, known as the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of New Pathogens, will differ in several respects from the team that WHO sent to China. Since this team visited Wuhan, China has had a significant impact on its membership. Dr. That’s not the case for the new committee, a permanent panel that Van Kerkhove says will meet frequently behind closed doors on the coronavirus.
In soliciting applications, WHO asked potential committee members for a cover letter and CV, as well as a clarification on any conflicts of interest. This seemed to be an attempt to drive away critics who complained that Peter Daszak, a veterinarian, a member of the previous team, was too closely tied to a Wuhan virology institute at the center of laboratory leak theories to offer an unbiased assessment. Dr. Daszak said his expertise China and the coronaviruses have made it very suitable to join the previous trip.
“The conflicts of interest of members of the latter group are a huge cloud over the head of the World Health Organization,” said Lawrence Gostin, director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University. For the new advisory group, he added: “This is a committee with appropriate responsibility and appropriate global mandate – none of this has happened before.”
For WHO, Professor Gostin said the new committee serves several purposes. He said by selecting a larger group that reflects a broader range of expertise and geographic regions, the organization could seek to garner widespread international support for its work and highlight China’s intransigence.
Most importantly, the creation of the new group can also help strengthen WHO’s stance with key Western supporters, none of whom are more important than the United States. Professor Gostin said that despite the agency’s attempt to treat China with respect during the pandemic, China has repeatedly blocked the organization and withheld important information.
Now, he said, the organization must heed the aspirations of Europe and the United States – particularly Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, who is counting on their support for reelection in May.
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