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| - The United States on Monday played down a European-led telethon from which Washington is absent that raised 7.4 billion euros to produce a vaccine against the new coronavirus. The United States did not explain why it did not take part in Monday's event, in which some 40 countries as well as private philanthropists are taking part, but it came as President Donald Trump fights the World Health Organization. "As the global leader in COVID-19 foreign assistance, we welcome the EU efforts to secure pledges for additional contributions to combat this pandemic," a senior US official told reporters. "Many of the organizations and programs this pledging conference seeks to support already receive very significant funding and support from the US government and private sector," he said on condition of anonymity. Pressed on why the United States was staying away, the official called the EU effort "one of many pledging efforts that are going on" and said Washington "is at the lead, really, at the forefront of those international efforts." The official gave a figure of $2.4 billion in US health, humanitarian and economic assistance for the response to COVID-19, which has killed nearly 250,000 people around the world. But Trump has vowed to freeze funding for the WHO, to which the United States gives more than $400 million a year, as he accuses the UN body of acting too slowly and not challenging China when the illness was first detected there. Critics say Trump is seeking to deflect attention from his own handling of the pandemic, which he said in January was under control but has claimed far more lives in the United States than any other country. fff/sct/jm
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