Top Adviser To Operation Warp Speed Calls An October Vaccine 'Extremely Unlikely' [View all]

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Source: NPR

Dr. Moncef Slaoui is one of two men that President Trump has put in charge of Operation Warp Speed, which has a goal of developing a COVID-19 vaccine by January. The former GlaxoSmithKline executive said having states prepared is "the right thing to do" in case a vaccine does become ready, but he acknowledged that having one by October or November was "extremely unlikely."

Slaoui said that he "firmly" believed a vaccine could be ready by the end of the year and that "we may have enough vaccine by the end of the year to immunize probably I would say between 20 [million] and 25 million people." He said immunizing the U.S. population as a whole would take until "the middle of 2021."

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"Trying to propose that there is going to be a vaccine available before the election actually may undermine people's trust in the process to develop an efficacious and safe vaccine," Khan said.

Slaoui said he understands why the date might concern people but added that the people working on Operation Warp Speed aren't interested in the politicization of the vaccine. He said vaccines would not be introduced before clinical trials are completed.


Read more: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/09/03/909279006/top-adviser-to-operation-warp-speed-calls-an-october-vaccine-extremely-unlikely