U.S. refuses to join 170 countries teaming up to produce a coronavirus vaccine

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
(Image credit: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

The U.S. isn't interested in the rest of the world's brainpower — and manufacturing power — when it comes to developing a COVID-19 vaccine.

More than 170 countries are considering joining the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, or Covax, aimed at quickly developing a coronavirus vaccine and distributing it to the most vulnerable populations. But the Trump administration said Tuesday it won't be joining them, in part because the World Health Organization is helping to lead the coalition, The Washington Post reports.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The decision is in line with Trump's "America first" mentality, the Post reports, just like its decision to withdraw from the WHO in the first place. It suggests the U.S. is confident it will develop a vaccine early, and would rather not put its confidence in other countries or necessarily share whatever vaccine it develops with them. But "just from a simple risk management perspective, this is shortsighted," Kendall Hoyt, an assistant professor at Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine, said, likening it to "opting out of an insurance policy."

Suerie Moon, the co-director of the Global Health Center at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, added that this "will have political repercussions beyond public health." It'll show the rest of the world whether the U.S. is "a reliable partner," or if America's mentality is about "keep[ing] all your toys for yourself."

Explore More

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.