China has changed its mind and joined the WHO’s program.

Covax is an international initiative created by the World Health Organization with the goal of swiftly producing and distributing a COVID-19 vaccine to countries all over the world. Two of the most powerful countries in the world, the United States and China, have already declined to join Covax.

At the time, the Trump Administration said that the US does not want to “be constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China.”

China, however, has decided to reverse its previous decision, and announced today that they will be formally joining the Covax efforts. China is now the most powerful member of the Covax initiative, and their infrastructure could help to expedite the process, as well as expand their own international market.

“Even when China is leading the world with several vaccines in advanced stages of R&D and with ample production capacity, it still decided to join COVAX,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement. “We are taking this concrete step to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines, especially to developing countries, and hope more capable countries will also join and support COVAX.”

In addition to China, Covax is backed by countries including Germany, Japan, Britain, and the EU. In addition to developing a viable vaccine as quickly as possible, the coalition wants to ensure that poorer or developing countries still have plentiful access to the vaccine once it’s ready. Countries both in and out of Covax, including the United States, have signed deals with various pharmaceutical companies to produce a COVID-19 vaccine. Whoever makes a safe vaccine first stands to receive a large sum of money and acclaim.