U.S. to pay WHO more than $200 million in subscription costs Trump kept

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated Wednesday that the United States will pay the more than $200 million it owes to the World Health Organization by the end of the month, a relocation that declares the brand-new administration’s dedication to worldwide health.

“This is a key step forward in fulfilling our financial obligations as a WHO member and it reflects our renewed commitment to ensuring the WHO has the support it needs to lead the global response to the pandemic even as we work to reform it for the future,” Blinken informed the U.N. Security Council throughout a videoconference.

“The United States will work with our partners across the globe to expand manufacturing and distribution capacity and to increase access, including marginalized populations,” Blinken stated, in his very first speech given that ending up being the country’s leading diplomat.

Blinken likewise required his equivalents to fight false information on vaccines and to share any pertinent details on the origins of the coronavirus to detectives.

“The ongoing expert investigation about the origins of this pandemic and the report that will be issued must be independent with findings based on science and facts and free from interference,” Blinken stated. “To better understand this pandemic and prepare for the next one, all countries must make available all data from the earliest days of the outbreak,” he included.

Blinken’s remarks come as President Joe Biden works to resolve the unfolding coronavirus pandemic that has actually declared more than 2.4 million lives worldwide and contaminated more than 109.6 million, according to figures assembled by Johns Hopkins University. In the United States, the coronavirus has actually contaminated more than 27.7 million individuals and eliminated a minimum of 488,295 individuals.

In among his very first function as president, Biden rescinded previous President Donald Trump’s choice to withdraw the U.S. from the United Nations’ health company, which is based in Geneva.

In April, Trump stated he suspended U.S. moneying to the company pending an evaluation, mentioning what he called “the World Health Organization’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.”

A month later on, he revealed his intents to get rid of the U.S. from the company amidst the coronavirus pandemic, mentioning what he called the WHO’s abuse of financing and its comfortable relationship with China.

“China has total control over the World Health Organization, despite only paying $40 million per year compared to what the United States has been paying, which is approximately $450 million a year,” Trump stated.

In July, the Trump administration sent to the U.N. secretary-general its notification withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization by July 6, 2021.

In October, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated he hoped the United States would reevaluate its choice to leave the WHO, including that the coronavirus can’t be beat “in a divided world.” 

“The problem is not about the money. It’s not the financing that’s the issue. It’s actually the relationship with the U.S. that’s more important and its leadership abroad,” Ghebreyesus informed a virtual audience at the Aspen Security Forum.