COVID-19 Vaccine Will Be Delivered at ‘Warp Speed’ Says Trump Admin

When it is approved, and which ever drug it is, the vaccine for COVID-19 will be delivered at warp speed says the head of the new Trump created, wait for it, Operation Warp Speed.

“On the 11th or on the 12th of December, hopefully the first people will be immunized across the United States, across all states, in all the areas where the state departments of health will have told us where to deliver the vaccines,” Moncef Slaoui, head of the government’s Operation Warp Speed, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

Current plans envisage another milestone around May: a 70% immunization rate across the U.S., which “would allow for true herd immunity to take place,” said Slaoui, a former head of GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccines operation. “Most people need to be immunized before we can go back to a normal life.”

Bloomberg reports that, “While an effective vaccine is expected to be widely distributed in the U.S. in 2021, hurdles remain. An advisory panel of the Food and Drug Administration is meeting on Dec. 10 to discuss emergency use authorization for a vaccine candidate. Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE have requested that authorization for their product.”

“While we can’t predict how long FDA’s review will take, the agency will review the request as expeditiously as possible, while still doing so in a thorough and science-based manner, so that we can help make available a vaccine that the American people deserve as soon as possible,” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn tweeted on Sunday.

While we can’t predict how long FDA’s review will take, the agency will review the request as expeditiously as possible, while still doing so in a thorough and science-based manner, so that we can help make available a vaccine that the American people deserve as soon as possible.

— Dr. Stephen M. Hahn (@SteveFDA) November 22, 2020

laoui said on CNN “it would be better” if President Donald Trump’s administration formally allowed the presidential transition to begin.

Even so, the operation “has been isolated from the administration, from the political environment, and the political context,” Slaoui said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“All decisions are made, the train is running,” he said. “Whether one administration or the other doesn’t, frankly, make a difference.”

Information on the program isn’t been shared with Joe Biden’s incoming administration, he said, consistent with Trump’s failure to acknowledge his election loss.

Visit the Defense Department page here.

Warp speed, huh? Sounds like a job for Space Force.