US says terms for WHO-led inquiry into COVID-19 origins not transparently negotiated

United States officials on November 10 said that the terms laid out by the World Health Organization (WHO) –led team of experts to investigate the origin of COVID-19 were not transparently negotiated or confirmed with its mandate of member states. The remarks came amid the UN agency’s annual meeting which, this year, aims at finding a solution to the coronavirus pandemic. While America has repeatedly accused WHO of maligning with China, the organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had denied and in turn, accused Bejng of hiding information.

'Not negotiated in a transparent way' 

Meanwhile, Garrett Grigsby, head of the global affairs office at the US  Department of Health and Human Services, speaking at the WHO ministerial meeting asserted that member states had been made aware of the investigation's terms of reference  (TOR) only a few days ago. He further elaborated that the TOR was not negotiated to all member states in a transparent way. In his address, he also expresses concern about the rising cases of coronavirus saying that people were “ quite literally” in the fight of their  lifetime as COVID-19 pandemic was  causing “death and societal disruption."

Read: India's Daily COVID-19 Testing Numbers One Of The Highest In The World: Health Ministry

Read: UN Deputy Chief Visits West Africa To Ensure Speedy Recovery From COVID Pandemic

This comes as the WHO chief hailed Pfizer and BioNTech's announcement on November 9 that the vaccine they have jointly developed is 90% effective in preventing the COVID-19 infection in ongoing Phase 3 trials. Taking to Twitter, Dr Tedros welcomed the ‘encouraging’ news and commended all scientists and partners engaged in developing the vaccine to beat the Coronavirus.

Read: WHO Chief Tedros Welcomes 'encouraging' News On COVID-19 Vaccine From Pfizer, BioNTech

Read: WHO Chief Congratulates Joe Biden, Kamala Harris

A coronavirus vaccine may be rolled out by March 2021 to the most vulnerable, which could fundamentally change the course of the pandemic, a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official said on Monday. Addressing WHO's annual ministerial assembly, Bruce Aylward said that the interim results from Pfizer Inc's phase-three vaccine trials were "very positive".