{"id":106167,"date":"2020-09-02T14:23:15","date_gmt":"2020-09-02T21:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=106167"},"modified":"2020-09-02T14:23:15","modified_gmt":"2020-09-02T21:23:15","slug":"white-house-says-it-wont-help-global-vaccine-effort-to-spite-china-world-health-organization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/09\/02\/white-house-says-it-wont-help-global-vaccine-effort-to-spite-china-world-health-organization\/","title":{"rendered":"White House says it won\u2019t help global vaccine effort to spite China, World Health Organization"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tom McKay Courtesy NewsIn.Asia<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

As per the\u00a0Washington Post, the U.S. isn\u2019t participating in the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) Facility, a joint coronavirus vaccine effort run by the WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and vaccine alliance Gavi that has received statements of interest from\u00a0170 countries.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"White<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Washington. September 2 (gizmodo.com): The U.S. won\u2019t contribute to an international effort to develop a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes covid-19, the White House said on Tuesday, because it involves the corrupt World Health Organization\u201d and China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As per the Washington Post<\/a>, the U.S. isn\u2019t participating in the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) Facility, a joint coronavirus vaccine effort run by the WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and vaccine alliance Gavi that has received statements of interest from 170 countries. The involvement of the WHO has rankled the Trump administration, which is always champing at the bit to invent some new imaginary enemy to blame for a pandemic that\u2019s estimated to have killed at least184,517 Americans<\/a>as of Tuesday evening. Trump announced the U.S. would be slashing all funds to the organizationearlier this year<\/a>,lying about<\/a>its early handling of outbreaks in China and claiming it colluded in a coverup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China,\u201d a spokesperson for the White House, Judd Deere, told the Post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WHO arguably made missteps in its handling of coronavirus, failing to admit the virus had reachedpandemic proportions<\/a>until well after the writing was on the wall. It has also faced accusations itfailed to recognize<\/a>the Chinese government wascovering up<\/a>early clusters of coronavirus (there\u2019s no evidence the WHOdid so deliberately<\/a>). But the organization is critical to the global fight against the virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Covaxis intended<\/a>to coordinate the efforts of signatory nations on developing at least nine coronavirus vaccine candidates and distributing any that work equitably around the world, prioritizing the most vulnerable individuals first. By flipping the WHO and Covax the bird, Trump and crew are doubling down on a bet that the U.S. will develop its own vaccine and then be under less obligation to share it. Trump has promised that a vaccine will be available this year despite alack of scientific evidence<\/a>to back the assertion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Post, one senior administration official as well as a former one confirmed that interest at Health and Human Services and the State Department in participating was overruled by chest-thumping hardliners. If the U.S. fails to develop a vaccine, not participating in Covax could theoretically screw the nation over\u2014but the Post noted success could leave the U.S. positioned for vaccine hoarding:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 There was resistance in some corners of the government and a belief that the United States has enough coronavirus vaccine candidates in advanced clinical trials that it can go it alone, according to the official and a former senior administration official who learned about it in private discussions.<\/p>

The question of who wins the race for a safe vaccine will largely influence how the administration\u2019s America first\u201d approach to the issue plays out.<\/p>

An unlikely worst-case scenario, experts said, is that none of the U.S. vaccine candidates are viable, leaving the United States with no option since it has shunned the Covax effort.<\/p>

Another possibility is that a U.S. vaccine does pan out, but the country hoards doses, vaccinating a large number of Americans, including those at low risk, while leaving other countries without.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Hoarding isprobably the point<\/a>. The White House has taken a step further than the other wealthy countries and blocs thathave spent billions<\/a>to secure priority access to a vaccine and manufacturing capacity, applying anarms race logic<\/a>to the matter. The U.S. has largely treated vaccine development as a proprietary matter and bought at least800 million doses<\/a>of six vaccines in advance, with the option of purchasing a billion more. One likely outcome is that the U.S.\u2014
and others such as Britain, the European Union, and Japan that are participating in Covax but hedged their bets withmassive private buys<\/a>\u2014corner global manufacturing capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The implication,\u201d Center for Economic and Policy Research co-founder Dean Bakertold Jacobin<\/a>, is that we are going to have people in the United States die if it isn\u2019t a U.S. vaccine. And the other way around, we are prepared to let people around the world die because it is a U.S. vaccine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s still time for the Trump administration to reverse course, the Post wrote, and another face-saving option includes funding it through Gavi, which is heavily supported by the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a runningNew York Times tracker<\/a>, there are currently dozens of vaccines in Phase 1 trials, which test for safety, dosage, and immune system stimulation, or further along in the process such as Phase 2 (extended safety testing) or Phase 3 (large clinical trials). Globally, there are 23 vaccine candidates in Phase 1, 14 in Phase 2, 9 in Phase 3, with three of the Phase 3 trialstaking place in the U.S<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three have been approved for limited use in Russia and China, though experts say theprocess was rushed<\/a>and those vaccines aren\u2019t actuallyproven be safe or effective<\/a>. The Russian government later made the approval contingent on the success ofexpanded Phase 3 trials<\/a>after its approach washammered as reckless<\/a>by the international medical community. No vaccines have been officially approved by regulatory agencies for widespread usage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has reportedly been seeking ways to release a vaccine before the November 2020 elections, whether or not it hasbeen adequately tested<\/a>and approved by the Food and Drug Administration. According toUSA Today<\/a>, the White House-led partnership to rapidly develop a vaccine (dubbed Operation Warp Speed) has been trying to develop a logistics network that could distribute avaccine by Nov. 1<\/a>, two days before the election. FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn recently indicated inan interview<\/a>with the Financial Times that the agency may issue an emergency use authorization before Phase 3 trials of a U.S.-developed vaccine are complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a vaccine gets an [emergency use authorization] and it either doesn\u2019t work or is a significant safety risk, it would cause tremendous harm,\u201d Columbia University virologist Dr. Angela Rasmussentweeted on Aug. 30<\/a>. If a vaccine isn\u2019t safe, it could harm all the people who take it. Even if it is safe, but isn\u2019t effective, it could indirectly harm people by giving them a false sense of security that they are protected. Both situations would be extraordinarily damaging to public health.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rasmussen wrote that releasing a vaccine that wasn\u2019t adequately vetted would be a catastrophic blow\u201d to public confidence in vaccines and the regulatory process, adding the politically motivated release of such a vaccine could destroy public trust in medicine as an evidence-based enterprise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the U.S. says it is not going to participate in any sort of multilateral effort to secure vaccines, it\u2019s a real blow,\u201d Global Health Center at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva co-director Suerie Moon told the Post. The behavior of countries when it comes to vaccines in this pandemic will have political repercussions beyond public health. It\u2019s about, are you a reliable partner, or, at the end of the day, are you going to keep all your toys for yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tom McKay Courtesy NewsIn.Asia As per the\u00a0Washington Post, the U.S. isn\u2019t participating in the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) Facility, a joint coronavirus vaccine effort run by the WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and vaccine alliance Gavi that has received statements of interest from\u00a0170 countries. Washington. September 2 (gizmodo.com): The U.S. won\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}