President Joe Biden’s top medical adviser on Covid-19, Dr Anthony Fauci, on Thursday announced renewed US support for the World Health Organisation after it faced blistering criticism from the Trump administration, laying out new commitments to tackle the coronavirus and other global health issues.
Fauci, speaking by videoconference from pre-dawn United States to WHO’s executive board, said the US will join the UN health agency’s efforts to bring vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics to people in need, whether in rich or poor countries. He said the US will also resume full funding and staffing support for WHO.
Fauci’s quick commitment to WHO — whose response to the coronavirus outbreak was repeatedly berated by the Trump administration — marks a dramatic and vocal shift toward a multilateral approach to fighting the pandemic.
“I am honoured to announce that the United States will remain a member of the World Health Organisation,” Fauci said. AP