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US Pledges to Join World Health Organization's COVID-19 Global Vaccination
Initiative

VOA News

   The leading infectious disease expert in the United States says the
   country will participate in the global initiative to provide COVID-19
   vaccines to poor countries.

   Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and
   Infectious Diseases and the chief medical adviser to new U.S. President
   Joe Biden, told the executive board of the World Health Organization
   Thursday during a videoconference that the U.S. will join the COVID-19
   Vaccines Global Access Facility, or COVAX, an international alliance
   led by WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and
   Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, an organization founded by Bill and Melinda
   Gates to vaccinate children in the world's poorest countries.

   Fauci also said the U.S. would fulfill its financial obligations to the
   United Nations health agency and maintain its previous staffing
   commitments. His remarks came one day after Biden issued an order on
   his first day in office pledging to restore Washington's ties with WHO.
   Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, announced in May that he was
   withdrawing the U.S. from the WHO, accusing the agency of helping China
   cover up the extent of the coronavirus, which was first detected in the
   central city of Wuhan in late 2019.

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