US backs out from global effort to develop, distribute Covid vaccine

September 02, 2020 11:35

The United States has said it will not join a global effort led by the World Health Organisation to develop, manufacture and distribute a vaccine to cure coronavirus.

Over 170 countries are in talks to take part in the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) Facility, aimed at fast-tracking vaccine development, secure doses for all nations and distributing them to the most high-risk segment of each population, The Washington Post reported.

The initiative, co-led by the WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, the vaccine alliance, was of interest to some members of the Donald Trump administration and is supported by US allies including Japan, Germany and the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union.

However, the US will not participate as Trump pulled out his country from the WHO in July after he criticised the body for covering up the outbreak of COVID-19, which first emerged in China last year.

"The US will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organisations influenced by the corrupt WHO and China," White House spokesperson Judd Deere was quoted as saying. -- PTI

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