The head of the World Health Organization on Friday said he is not sure if the United States government will join an initiative for equal access to drugs and vaccines for COVID-19.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the remarks in a virtual press conference from Geneva, when he was joined by Costa Rica's President Carlos Alvarado Quesada and President Sebastian Pinera of Chile, in a pre-launch of a new worldwide access initiative for COVID-19 health technologies, including vaccines, medicines and other solutions.

Asked by a Turkish journalist if the initiative will have support from US President Trump, Tedros said he could not answer that question. "You'd better ask the president," he said.

Relations between the WHO and the US government have soured after Trump accused the global health body of mismanagement of the pandemic and for being China-centric.

Trump has also ordered a halt to US funding of the WHO. The moves are widely viewed as an attempted deflection by the US government from its own poor handling of the pandemic at home.

This week the US has been at the center of some surprising news in the global search for vaccines for COVID-19.

Source: China Daily