Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled the partnership with the WHO's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) on Friday, after he met with the head of the WHO at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"The Trump administration's withdrawal from WHO is a reckless decision that will hurt all Californians and Americans," Newsom said in a press release.

"California will not bear witness to the chaos this decision will bring. We will continue to foster partnerships across the globe and remain at the forefront of public health preparedness, including through our membership as the only state in WHO's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network."

President Trump had wanted to withdraw the US from the WHO since his first term. He was a sharp critic of the Organization during the pandemic.

"This action responds to the WHO's failures during the COVID-19 pandemic and seeks to rectify the harm from those failures inflicted on the American people," said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr in a joint statement issued on Thursday.

The agency "abandoned its core mission and acted repeatedly against the interests of the United States," the statement continued, despite America's being a founding member and the largest financial contributor to the Organization.

Now the US has left, its contributions—$111 million in annual "mandatory dues" and $570 million in "voluntary contributions" —will cease.

"We right these injustices and bring an end to the bureaucratic inertia, entrenched paradigms, conflicts of interest, and international politics that have rendered the organization beyond repair," the press said.

"We will get our flag back for the Americans who died alone in nursing homes, the small businesses devastated by WHO-driven restrictions, and the American lives shattered by this organization's inactivity. Our withdrawal is for them."