When the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic one year ago Thursday, it did so only after weeks of resisting the term and maintaining that the highly infectious virus could still be stopped. A year later, the U.N. agency is still struggling to keep on top of the evolving science of COVID-19, to persuade countries to abandon their nationalistic tendencies and help get vaccines where they맥스카지노�re needed most.The agency made some costly missteps along the way: It advised people against wearing masks for months and asserted that COVID-19 wasn맥스카지노�t widely spread in the air. It also declined to publicly call out countries 맥스카지노� particularly China 맥스카지노� for mistakes that senior WHO officials grumbled about privately. That created some tricky politics that challenged WHO맥스카지노�s credibility and wedged it between two world powers, setting off vociferous Trump administration criticism that the agency is only now emerging from. President Joe Biden맥스카지노�s support for WHO may provide some much-needed breathing space, but the organization still faces a monumental task ahead as it tries to project some moral authority amid a universal scramble for vaccines that is leaving billions of people unprotected. Related video: Biden welcomes relief bill passage as 'historic'맥스카지노�WHO has been a bit behind, being cautious rather than precautionary,맥스카지노� said Gian Luca Burci, a former WHO legal counsel now at Geneva맥스카지노�s Graduate Institute. 맥스카지노�At times of panic, of a crisis and so on, maybe being more out on a limb 맥스카지노� taking a risk 맥스카지노� would have been better.맥스카지노�WHO waved its first big warning flag on Jan. 30, 2020, by calling the outbreak an international health emergency. But many countries ignored or overlooked the warning. Only when WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared a 맥스카지노�pandemic맥스카지노� six weeks later, on March 11, 2020, did most governments take action, experts said. By then, it was too late, and the virus had reached every continent except Antarctica. A year later, WHO still appears hamstrung. A WHO-led team that traveled to China in January to investigate the origins of COVID-19 was criticized for failing to dismiss China's fringe theory that the virus might be spread via tainted frozen seafood. That came after WHO repeatedly lauded China last year for its speedy, transparent response 맥스카지노� even though recordings of private meetings obtained by The Associated Press showed that top officials were frustrated at the country's lack of cooperation. 맥스카지노�Everybody has been wondering why WHO was so praising of China back in January" 2020, Burci said, adding that the praise has come back 맥스카지노�to haunt WHO big-time.맥스카지노� Some experts say WHO맥스카지노�s blunders came at a high price, and it remains too reliant on iron-clad science instead of taking calculated risks to keep people safer 맥스카지노� whether on strategies like mask-wearing or whether COVID-19 is often spread through the air.맥스카지노�Without a doubt, WHO맥스카지노�s failure to endorse masks earlier cost lives,맥스카지노� said Dr. Trish Greenhalgh, a professor of primary care health sciences at Oxford University who sits on several WHO expert committees. Not until June did WHO advise people to regularly wear masks, long after other health agencies and numerous countries did so.Greenhalgh said she was less interested in asking WHO to atone for past errors than revising its policies going forward. In October, she wrote to the head of a key WHO committee on infection control, raising concerns about the lack of expertise among some members. She never received a response. 맥스카지노�This scandal is not just in the past. It맥스카지노�s in the present and escalating into the future,맥스카지노� Greenhalgh said.Raymond Tellier, an associate professor at Canada's McGill University who specializes in coronaviruses, said WHO맥스카지노�s continued reluctance to acknowledge how often COVID-19 is spread in the air could prove more dangerous with the arrival of new virus variants first identified in Britain and South Africa that are even more transmissible. 맥스카지노�If WHO맥스카지노�s recommendations are not strong enough, we could see the pandemic go on much longer,맥스카지노� he said. With several licensed vaccines, WHO is now working to ensure that people in the world맥스카지노�s poorest countries receive doses through the COVAX initiative, which is aimed at ensuring poor countries get COVID-19 vaccines.But COVAX has only a fraction of the 2 billion vaccines it is hoping to deliver by the end of the year. Some countries that have waited months for shots have grown impatient, opting to sign their own private deals for quicker vaccine access.WHO chief Tedros has responded largely by appealing to countries to act in 맥스카지노�solidarity,맥스카지노� warning that the world is on the brink of a 맥스카지노�catastrophic moral failure맥스카지노� if vaccines are not distributed fairly. Although he has asked rich countries to share their doses immediately with developing countries and to not strike new deals that would jeopardize the vaccine supply for poorer countries, none have obliged. 맥스카지노�WHO is trying to lead by moral authority, but repeating 맥스카지노�solidarity맥스카지노� over and over when it맥스카지노�s being ignored by countries acting in their own self-interest shows they are not recognizing reality,맥스카지노� said Amanda Glassman, executive vice president of the Center for Global Development. 맥스카지노�It맥스카지노�s time to call things out for the way they are.맥스카지노� Yet throughout the pandemic, WHO has repeatedly declined to censure rich countries for their flawed attempts to stop the virus. Internally, WHO officials described some of their biggest member countries' approaches to stemming COVID-19 as 맥스카지노�an unfortunate laboratory to study the virus맥스카지노� and 맥스카지노�macabre.맥스카지노� More recently, Tedros seems to have found a slightly firmer voice 맥스카지노� speaking truth to leaders like Germany맥스카지노�s president about the need for wealthy countries to share vaccines or criticizing China for dragging its heels in not quickly granting visas to the WHO-led investigative team.Irwin Redlener of Columbia University said WHO should be more aggressive in instructing countries what to do, given the extremely unequal way COVID-19 vaccines are being distributed.맥스카지노�WHO can맥스카지노�t order countries to do things, but they can make very clear and explicit guidance that makes it difficult for countries not to follow,맥스카지노� Redlener said. WHO's top officials have said repeatedly it is not the agency's style to criticize countries. At a press briefing this month, WHO senior adviser Dr. Bruce Aylward said simply: 맥스카지노�We can맥스카지노�t tell individual countries what to do.맥스카지노� ___AP Medical Writer Maria Cheng reported from London.