President Joe Biden has stopped the US withdrawal from the World Health Organization, the New York Times reports.
CNBC adds that Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical advisor to the president on COVID-19, informed the WHO executive board of the reversal and that the US will be joining the COVAX initiative, which has the aim of equitably delivering SARS-CoV-2 tests, COVID-19 treatments, and vaccines.
The US-WHO relationship is "one that we value deeply and will look to strengthen going forward," Fauci said in his remarks to the WHO.
Last spring, former President Donald Trump criticized the WHO response to the COVID-19 pandemic, calling it "China-centric," and said the US would be leaving the global health agency, a process that began in July.
With the new Biden Administration, the US view has shifted, NPR notes. "This is a good day for WHO and a good day for global health," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said of the US move to stay as part of the WHO, according to NPR.