ROME – The U.N. epidemiologist who denounced the World Health Organization’s withdrawal of a report on Italy’s coronavirus response says he is suffering retaliation for having spoken out and is calling for the agency to live up to its obligations to protect whistleblowers.
Dr. Francesco Zambon said he filed an internal ethics complaint with the WHO in May after he said he was pressured by a senior WHO official to falsify data to obscure that Italy hadn’t updated its influenza pandemic preparedness plan since 2006.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Zambon said he never wanted to enter into a fight with the WHO but now feels he is being isolated professionally for having followed WHO regulations to report alleged misconduct. “I.