The W.H.O.'s 76th Annual meeting starts tomorrow and runs for ten days. What will they approve? What is the theme?

The IHR amendments adopted last year were decided in back rooms with no formal vote. What are they up to this time? Will the vax passport/digital ID become a WHO directive?

We won’t know until late in the program. But I suspect vaccine passports aka sanitary passes, green passes, digital IDs will be voted in as a requirement for travel. This was on the agenda even before the pandemic. And our international agencies have claimed that every human “deserves” a digital ID or form of identification so they can be eligible for all those goodies the state bestows. According to the Global Government Forum:

Why are governments developing digital IDs?

Governments around the globe are increasingly focused on the benefits of developing digital identify systems. The systems are viewed as ways to create secure online means for citizens to access government services as provision is increasingly moved online.

and

The Digital Government Exchange (DGX) Digital Identity Working Group said that collaboration on digital ID could help “facilitate economic recovery from COVID-19, for example to support the opening of domestic and international borders”. 

Here is the claim, which I suspect is untrue; would a billion people forego goodies and services or would they demand their right to them, digital ID or no?

Nearly one billion people – roughly one person in eight globally – lack the means to prove their identity through any widely recognized means. If properly designed and implemented, digital ID could offer equitable access to vital services and enable individuals to exercise their rights as citizens and voters and participate in the modern economy.

Here is an optimistic McKinsey claim about the benefit of digital IDs in developing countries:

Digital identification, or “digital ID,” can be authenticated unambiguously through a digital channel, unlocking access to banking, government benefits, education, and many other critical services. The risks and potential for misuse of digital ID are real and deserve careful attention. When well-designed, digital ID not only enables civic and social empowerment, but also makes possible real and inclusive economic gains—a less well understood aspect of the technology. In this research, we develop a framework to understand the potential economic impact of digital ID, informed by an analysis of nearly 100 ways in which digital ID can be used in Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In our seven focus countries, extending full digital ID coverage could unlock economic value equivalent to 3 to 13 percent of GDP in 2030, with just over half of the potential economic value potentially accruing to individuals. Realizing this value is by no means certain or automatic—it necessitates multiple high-value use cases and high levels of usage—and not all of these potential sources of economic value may translate into GDP. Yet, with careful system design and policies to promote uptake and mitigate risks, digital ID could be a powerful key to inclusive growth, offering quantifiable economic value to individuals, beyond significant non-economic benefits.

So we shall see what happens, but there is a lot of money to be made and a lot of control to be gained with digital IDs, while we carry around our electronic bracelet in our phones.

What else is the WHO up to? You can watch the sessions here, though James Roguski warns they will likely be deadly dull.

Actually, the lockdowns recommended by the WHO certainly failed to improve public health, as acknowledged even by the NY Times. WHO failed to recommend improving ventilation as a major means to prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 for the longest time, even after hundreds of scientists asked it to change this policy. COVID has impoverished hundreds of millions. So how has public health been improving? The numbers below are frightening, though in accord with what Ed Dowd has been telling us. Should we let the privately captured WHO decide the priorities for our health?