The United States said on September 1, 2020 that it will not work with an international cooperative effort to develop, manufacture and equally distribute COVID-19 Vaccine. The Trump Administration stated that it does not want to be constrained by multilateral groups like the World Health Organization.
The United States wants to keep itself out of the international effort to find the COVID-19 vaccine mainly due to the involvement of the World Health Organisation. The decision follow's Trump administration's decision in early June to pull the United States out of WHO, claiming that it required reforms and that it was influenced by China.
This comes at a time when over 170 nations are in talks to participate in the WHO-led COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) Facility.
COVAX Facility |
| • COVAX facility has been set up to speed up COVID vaccine development and secure doses of the approved vaccine for all countries. The effort is being jointly led by WHO and GAVI Vaccine alliance, which is backed by some of the traditional US allies including France, Germany and the European Commission. • The facility will enable nations to pool their efforts in developing the vaccine and ensure success against a disease that has no geographical boundaries. The facility will allow the nations to gain access to a wide portfolio of potential vaccines to ensure that their citizens are administered the vaccine deemed most effective. • According to WHO, even governments making deals with individual vaccine makers would benefit from joining COVAX as it would provide them with backup vaccines in case the ones being made through bilateral deals with manufacturers aren't successful. Also read: What is COVAX? |
US to continue to engage with international partners
The United States said that it will continue to engage with its international partners to ensure that the virus is defeated but it will not be constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China. This was stated by White House spokesman Judd Deere.
Dheere stated that the US President will spare no expense to ensure that any new vaccine maintains our own Food and Drug Administration's gold standard for safety and efficacy, is thoroughly tested and saves lives.
Will the US be at risk of not getting a vaccine?
According to some experts, joining COVAX is a simple measure to guarantee nation access to a COVID vaccine no matter who develops it first and hence, by deciding not to join it will leave the US at risk of not getting a vaccine. The move could completely isolate Americans from an effective vaccine against COVID-19 and put the lives of millions around the world at risk.
Background
Among over 100 vaccine candidates across the world, a handful of Vaccines have reached the last stage of human clinical trials with Russia being the first nation in the world to claim to have developed an effective COVID-19 vaccine.
Russia's Sputnik has also received the required official approval and will soon be administered to the citizens in the nation.
Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine candidate has also entered the final stage of human clinical trials. The vaccine is currently regarded to be one of the most effective of the lot, as it reportedly offers double protection against coronavirus. The vaccine's phase 3 trials are being conducted in the United States as well, where over 30,000 adults from diverse backgrounds will be tested upon.
Two other vaccines have begun their final testing in the United States, the Moderna vaccine and the other developed by Pfizer Inc. and Germany's BioNTech.
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