World leaders unite to accelerate COVID-19 tests, vaccine; US stays away from WHO initiative

World leaders on Friday pledged to speed up work on tests, drugs, and vaccines to treat novel coronavirus and share them with the rest of the countries, but the United States did not participate in the initiative launched by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The virtual conference aimed to accelerate the development of safe and effective drugs, tests, and vaccines to prevent, diagnose, and treat the virus and ensure equal access to treatments for rich and poor.

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"We are facing a common threat which we can only defeat with a common approach," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said as he opened the conference.

"Experience has told us that even when tools are available they have not been equally available to all. We cannot allow that to happen."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said for "global public good", the vaccine should be produced and distributed in all parts of the world.

French President Emmanuel Macron urged all G7 and G20 nations to back the initiative, adding "the fight against COVID-19 is a common human good and there should be no division in order to win this battle."

Earlier, US Mission in Geneva confirmed to Reuters that the country would not participate in the meet.

"Although the United States was not in attendance at the meeting in question, there should be no doubt about our continuing determination to lead on global health matters, including the current COVID crisis," a spokesperson of the mission said.

The US has been critical of WHO for its slow response to the pandemic and "China-centric" approach. US President Donald Trump, a few days ago, also froze the funding to the global health organization.

The virtual meet was attended by several nations from Asia, the Middle East, and Americas, but big countries like India, China, and Russia gave it a miss.