News Agency
\nGENEVA
\nThe United States will resume funding for the World Health Organization and join its consortium aimed at sharing coronavirus vaccines fairly around the globe, President Joe Biden\u2019s top adviser on the pandemic said Thursday, renewing support for an agency that the Trump administration had pulled back from.
\nDr. Anthony Fauci\u2019s quick commitment to the WHO \u2014 whose response to the pandemic has been criticized by many, but perhaps most vociferously by the Trump administration \u2014 marks a dramatic and vocal shift toward a more cooperative approach to fighting the pandemic.
\n\u201cI am honored to announce that the United States will remain a member of the World Health Organization,\u201d Fauci told a virtual meeting of the WHO from the United States, where it was 4:10 a.m. in Washington. It was the first public statement by a member of Biden\u2019s administration to an international audience \u2014 and a sign of the priority that the new president has made of fighting COVID-19 both at home and with world partners.
\nJust hours after Biden\u2019s inauguration Wednesday, he wrote a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres saying the US had reversed the planned pullout from the WHO that was expected to take effect in July.
\nThe withdrawal from the WHO was rich with symbolism \u2014 another instance of America\u2019s go-it-alone strategy under Trump. But it also had practical ramifications: The US halted funding for the UN health agency \u2014 stripping it of cash from the country that has long been its biggest donor just as the agency was battling the health crisis that has killed more than 2 million people worldwide. The US had also pulled back staff from the organization.
\nFauci said the Biden administration will resume \u201cregular engagement\u201d with WHO and will \u201cfulfill its financial obligations to the organization.\u201d
\nThe WHO chief and others jumped in to welcome the US announcements.
\n\u201cThis is a good day for WHO and a good day for global health,\u201d Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. \u201cThe role of the United States, its role, global role is very, very crucial.\u201d
\nThe two men hinted at a warm relationship between them, with Fauci calling Tedros his \u201cdear friend\u201d and Tedros referring to Fauci as \u201cmy brother Tony.\u201d
\nThe White House said later Thursday that Vice President Kamala Harris had discussed many of the same themes as Fauci raised in a call with Tedros.
\nBut she emphasized the need to beef up the global response to COVID-19, \u201cmitigate its secondary impacts, including on women and girls,\u201d and work to \u201cprevent the next outbreak from becoming an epidemic or pandemic,\u201d the White House said in a statement.
\n\u201cIn addition, the vice president emphasized the importance of making America safer through global cooperation,\u201d it added, highlighting the new tone out of Washington.
\nJohn Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called the renewed commitment \u201cgreat news\u201d in an email. \u201cThe world has always been a better place when the US plays a leadership role in solving global health problems including the fight against HIV\/AIDS, malaria, polio and other diseases,\u201d he said.
\nDanish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke wrote on Facebook: \u201cThis is going to have a huge impact on the world\u2019s ability to fight the pandemic. It is decisive that the United States is involved as a driving force and not a country that is looking for the exit when a global catastrophe rages.\u201d
\nFauci also said Biden will issue a directive Thursday that shows the United States\u2019 intent to join the COVAX Facility, a project to deploy COVID-19 vaccines to people in need around the world \u2014 whether in rich or poor countries.
\nUnder Trump, the US had been the highest-profile \u2014 and most deep-pocketed \u2014 holdout from the COVAX Facility, which has struggled to meet its goals of distributing millions of vaccines both because of financial and logistic difficulties.
\nWHO and leaders in many developing countries have repeatedly expressed concerns that poorer places could be the last to get COVID-19 vaccines, while noting that leaving vast swaths of the global population unvaccinated puts everyone at risk.
\nWhile vowing US support, Fauci also pointed to some key challenges facing WHO. He said the US was committed to \u201ctransparency, including those events surrounding the early days of the pandemic.\u201d
\nOne of the Trump administration\u2019s biggest criticisms was that the WHO reacted too slowly to the outbreak in Wuhan, China, and was too accepting of and too effusive about the Chinese government\u2019s response to it. Others have also shared those criticisms \u2014 but public health experts and many countries have argued that, while the organization needs reform, it remains vital.
\nReferring to a WHO-led probe looking for the origins of the coronavirus by a team that is currently in China, Fauci said: \u201cThe international investigation should be robust and clear, and we look forward to evaluating it.\u201d
\nHe said the US would work with WHO and partner countries to \u201cstrengthen and reform\u201d the agency, without providing specifics.
\nAt the White House later in the day, Fauci quipped to Jeff Zients, who is directing the national response to the coronavirus, \u201cYou can imagine the comments we were getting from the people in the WHO.\u201d
\nThen he added, his voice trailing off, \u201cThey were lining up to thank …\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
News Agency GENEVA The United States will resume funding for the World Health Organization and join its consortium aimed at sharing coronavirus vaccines fairly around the globe, President Joe Biden\u2019s top adviser on the pandemic said Thursday, renewing support for an agency that the Trump administration had pulled back from. Dr. Anthony Fauci\u2019s quick commitment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169972,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-169963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n