From some perspectives, Australia's preoccupation with everything happening in the United States is a curious phenomenon, even accounting for the events of the past few weeks, culminating in the inauguration of Joe Biden as president.
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Because in the meantime, elsewhere things are going from bad to worse. Many countries are still convulsed by the coronavirus pandemic, with soaring death rates and crippled economies, and we should be turning our attention more regularly beyond America
But Biden's announcement within the first few hours of his presidency that he will take the US back into the World Health Organisation is welcome news for the world, and for the WHO's Covax program.
WHO's goal of having vaccines being rolled out in every country by World Health Day on April 7 is an ambitious and laudable target that should be supported by all the wealthy nations, including our own.
Biden's rescinding of Trump's withdrawal will not be nearly as straightforward as the rest of the world would hope.
For instance, other countries, China in particular, have stepped in to fill the void left by the US in the meantime. Disentanglement may not be simple.
It will take more than a single announcement for America's relationship with the WHO to revert back to the pre-Trump era.
But the sentiments we have seen expressed in the US in the past week - unilateral, unifying, conciliatory - apply on a global level as well.
There is, finally, hope of fostering a sentiment that we are all in this together and until everybody is safe, nobody is safe.
Having one of the world's most powerful democracies demonstrate respect for established international institutions is a sign that change is possible.
Biden has also pledged to re-enter the Paris climate agreement, signing an executive action that will see the US rejoin international efforts to curb global warming, reversing Donald Trump's actions.
Actions such as this, no matter how symbolic and potentially fraught with delicate political wrangling, are enormously significant to a world beset by crisis. Having one of the world's most powerful democracies demonstrate respect for established international institutions is a sign that change is possible.
Meanwhile, in other WHO developments, an independent panel announced last week that Chinese officials could have applied public health measures more forcefully in January to curb the initial COVID-19 outbreak, and criticised WHO for not declaring an international emergency until January 30.
The report questioned in particular WHO's failure to use the term "pandemic" in relation to the crisis until March 11. "Although the term pandemic is neither used nor defined in the International Health Regulations, its use does serve to focus attention on the gravity of a health event," the report said.
"The global pandemic alert system is not fit for purpose. The World Health Organization has been underpowered to do the job".
But China has also been strongly criticised for downplaying the outbreak's severity during its early stages, and thus preventing an effective response until it was too late. In response, China said it agreed its responses to future health crises could be improved, but denied its management of the pandemic was wanting.
But at this stage, this report should not be about a blame game, nor should we be piling onto China. This is about understanding what went wrong, and making sure we get it right next time.
Biden's approach to his new role should give many of us the hope that a more measured approach to diplomacy and international collaboration is possible.
