The United States slams the global access program to the coronavirus vaccine

President Donald Trump arriving at the White House.Rod Lamkey / POOL / EFE

The Donald Trump Administration has informed this Tuesday that it will not join the global effort to develop, manufacture and distribute a coronavirus vaccine to the population at greatest risk.

The White House has justified the decision because, it points out, the "corrupt" World Health Organization (WHO) is involved in the initiative.

The slamming of the United Nations agency comes a few months after the United States announced the freezing of funds to the agency and began its formal withdrawal, scheduled for mid-2021, for "mismanaging and covering up" the spread of the biggest pandemic in a century.

"The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure that we defeat this virus, but we will not be limited by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China," said Judd Deere, a White House spokesman, on participation. from the world power on the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) platform.

More than 170 countries are in talks to be part of the initiative co-led by WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations, and the Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunization (Gavi).

Covax's goal is to discourage hoarding of a vaccine in the country that gets it first, and thus focus efforts on prioritizing high-risk people around the world once it is obtained.

The United States would be betting on bilateral agreements with pharmaceutical companies instead of being part of the global initiative.

But the WHO argues that both can be done at the same time.

"By joining the platform, at the same time they are making bilateral agreements, they are actually betting on a greater number of vaccine candidates," said Mariângela Simao, WHO Deputy Director for Access to Medicines and Vaccines, in mid-August. .

At first, the US government was reluctant to dissociate itself from Covax and turn its back on health diplomacy, but then the idea was installed that the United States has enough vaccine candidates in clinical trials, so it can do it alone, they said. , under anonymity, an Administration official and a former senior official to

.

However, as Simao remarked in his appearance on August 17, it is not yet known who the successful candidate will be.

Stephen Hahn, director of the FDA, the US drug agency, assured Sunday in an interview with the

that he is willing to approve the use of a US vaccine for COVID-19 before the normal process of testing is completed. clinical trials.

A group of WHO experts has warned that none of the 33 experimental vaccines that are already in human trials have yet demonstrated their safety and efficacy.

“There is a danger that political and economic pressures to rapidly introduce a COVID-19 vaccine could lead to the widespread deployment of a vaccine that is actually very ineffective.

For example, that only reduces the incidence of covid-19 between 10% and 20% ", they warn.

Trump's offensive against the WHO arises because he believes that he has acted in the interest of China and has to "be held accountable" for it.

"The silence of the WHO in the face of the disappearance of researchers and doctors and the new restrictions on information about the investigation of the origins of covid-19 [by China] is deeply worrying," he said at the height of infections.

The details of the US withdrawal from the body are still being evaluated, but considering that it will be effective on July 6 next year, it will also depend on whether or not Trump wins the November presidential elections.

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