US wants WHO review of COVID-19 response to start 'now'

The United States says it wants the World Health Organization to start work now on a planned independent review of its coordinated international response to the COVID-19 outbreak, at a time the Trump administration has repeatedly criticized the agency and is threatening to cut off US funding for it.

Adm Brett Giroir, an assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, sent a letter to the UN health agency's executive board meeting on Friday saying the United States believes the WHO can immediately initiate" preparations such as bringing together independent health experts and setting up guidelines for the review.

This review will ensure we have a complete and transparent understanding of the source, timeline of events, and decision-making process for the WHO's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, wrote Giroir, who is one of the board's 34 international members. Giroir did not participate in the board's first-ever virtual meeting.

Giroir alluded to a resolution passed Tuesday by the WHO's assembly calling on Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to launch a comprehensive evaluation of the WHO-coordinated international response to the outbreak at the earliest appropriate moment.

Tedros, for his part, spoke to the board and pointed proudly to a long list of actions taken by WHO to respond to the outbreak without directly alluding to the Trump administration pressure that was highlighted by Giroir.

As President Trump just made clear in his May 18 letter to Director-General Tedros, there is no time to waste to begin on the reforms needed to ensure such a pandemic never happens again, Giroir added.

We applaud the call for an impartial, independent, and comprehensive review, to be undertaken in consultation with member states, and urge that work begin now."