The new US administration on Thursday, in a dramatic turning point, thanked the World Health Organization for leading the global pandemic response and pledged to remain a member state.
"Under trying circumstances, this organization has rallied the scientific and research and development community to accelerate vaccines, therapies and diagnostics,"
op US scientist Anthony Fauci, who has been appointed Chief Medical Advisor to President Joe Biden, spoke at a WHO Executive Board meeting.
In their battle against Covid-19, the WHO, he said, had "relentlessly worked with nations in their fight against Covid-19."
His remarks represented a sharp departure from former US President Donald Trump's harsh criticism of the WHO, who had started to remove his country from the organization.
But on his first day in office Wednesday, Biden reversed that decision. In a letter sent to United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, Biden announced he was retracting Trump's July 6 notification that the United States intended to withdraw from the UN health agency in 12 months' time.